ABSTRACT
By its 10th commemoration, the volume of photographs of the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide overtook those taken during the 100 days of killing. Many photo-based projects have been undertaken in subsequent years, including during its 25th commemoration. The medium of photography, like many visual arts, has been called into the service of interpreting aesthetic responses to suffering and trauma. This chapter gives an account of an exploratory photographic project that is a response to a question posed by Möller and Ubaldo (2013): “What forms of photography might enrich the lives of ordinary people in Rwanda?” Using the ambiguity of photography to its advantage the project, Memory −> Witness is about recognizing the everydayness of trauma and the historical legacy left in the wake of genocide. Ultimately, the photographs in the exhibit work to lessen the burden of trauma survivors carry by distributing the weight of ongoing suffering to spectators of the images.
