Translate page with Google

Project November 10, 2011

Infra: Images from Eastern Congo

Country:

Author:
Nowhere to Run

Infra offers a radical rethinking of how to depict a conflict as complex and intractable as that of the ongoing conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mosse photographs the rich topography of eastern Congo, inscribed with the traces of conflicting interests, and captures the constantly shifting allegiances of rebel groups at war with the Congolese national army (itself a patchwork of recently integrated warlords and their militias).

For centuries, the Congo has repeatedly compelled and defied the Western imagination. Mosse brings to this subject the use of a discontinued aerial surveillance film, a type of color infrared film called Kodak Aerochrome. The film, originally developed for military reconnaissance, registers an invisible spectrum of infrared light, rendering the green landscape in vivid hues of lavender, crimson and hot pink.

Known for challenging notions of the photojournalist's role, Mosse's work underlines the tension between art and photojournalism. His imagery of Eastern Congo's civil war is as shocking and complex as the conflict it seeks to understand.

The Pulitzer Center co-published Richard Mosse's book Infra, in partnership with the Aperture Foundation. To order an advance, collector's edition, copy visit aperture.org.

RELATED TOPICS

pink halftone illustration of a hand underneath a floating feather

Topic

Peace Initiatives

Peace Initiatives