At an online session organised by Dr Tiffany Fairey, a senior research fellow at King’s College London, participants gathered to explore the intersection of photography and peace. The event brought together a range of experts and practitioners to discuss how photography can foster cultures of peace in different contexts. The panel was chaired by Dr Fairey, who leads a research project called Imaging Peace — a multi-year, multi-country study of peace photography. She framed the session with a probing question: “What is peace photography?”
The event aimed to delve into this question through a series of presentations from four projects that embodied the concept. In general, the intention behind all these endeavors was to understand how photography can contribute to the recovery and transformation of conflict. As Fairey noted, “We know plenty about war photography. But little thought has really been given to this idea of what a photography of peace might be.”
Making complex histories more accessible
Tatiana Milovanovic (Program Director at the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) in Bosnia and Herzegovina) was the first to speak. Her narrative centred around its Ordinary Heroes programme, which highlighted stories of moral courage from Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, and the Holocaust.
Photo by Mitar Simikić, interview by Armin Halilović, Post Conflict Research Centre. Image used with permission.
Through such projects, PCRC uses photography to make complex histories more accessible and participatory, while being aware of the sensitivities involved. Milovanovic highlighted, “When documenting the stories of victims and survivors, we must try to make sure we do not harm or do not do more harm. Having access to psychosocial support, being able to guide the survivors through this process, and engaging them every step of the way is incredibly important.”
Preserving a collective memory
Next, we heard from Ro Yassim Abdumonab, a senior photographer for the Rohingyatographer collective. Abdumonab has been living in refugee camps in Bangladesh since 2017. His work is crucial as it documents the lives, cultures, and struggles of the Rohingya people.
Photo by Ro Yassin Abdomonab, Rohingyatographer Collective. Image used with permission.
He explained the mission of the Rohingya Photographer Collective: “Our mission is to foster global understanding and advocacy for the Rohingya crisis, preserving a collective memory and advocating for human rights and dignity.” The project aims to offer a platform for self-representation and storytelling, and through this medium, support the Rohingya cultural movement.
Participatory therapeutic photography
Brendan Bannon, a photographer, described the Odyssey Project, which he runs, as a “participatory therapeutic photography workshop” for combat veterans in the US.
Reflecting on his project’s mission, Brendan shared, “People think of photography as a solitary practice, but the quest for meaning through photography, as they practiced it, was intimate and rooted in a community of peers.” One of the veterans from the project epitomized this when he said, “Peace photography to me represents the documentation and process of finding a way back to who we are now and getting to know and love that person.”
He elucidated that photography serves as a grounding practice for many veterans, who use it to confront and make peace with their past. A striking example was the work of one veteran, Michael Shanley, who made an image collage of hundreds of sunsets and sunrises he photographed while on active service in Iraq, “acknowledging in his own spiritual practice, the coming and goings of each day and celebrating his continuity over life”.
Fostering dialogue and reconciliation
The final panelist, Jacques Nkinzingabo, spoke about his work at the Kigali Center for Photography in Rwanda. Jacques’s work includes a wide range of cultural and community-oriented projects, such as the Homestay Exhibitions.
Jacques remarked on the crucial role of photography in Rwandan society: “With the Home Stay exhibitions, it was also a contribution to our own community where photography can play a role to bring people together with dialogues within the community on different types of conversation and issues around them.” The project brings photographers into homes to exhibit their work, fostering dialogue and reconciliation in neighborhoods still scarred by the genocide.
Confronting traumas
In the open discussion, Milovanovic described how photography can be an amazing outlet for people to confront or mitigate their traumas: “For example, in our work with survivors of sexual violence, just being able to stand in front of a camera and having your picture taken… was very traumatic for women but also very empowering, because they are given this recognition and voice, and are able to stand proudly, for a lot of them for the first time.”
Ethical considerations
The conversation also delved into the challenges and ethical concerns of engaging with peace photography. Milovanovic answered with an example from their Ordinary Heroes project, where a Muslim participant received threats from his own community after he spoke well about a Serbian who saved him in a situation: “We went through the whole [preparatory] process with him, made sure there was security… but it still happens.”
Affirmation of participation
On questions about definitions of peace photography, Bannon approached it from a perspective of participation:
“There are these beautiful concentric circles of impact, first in engagement — the healing to anybody — then extending to family, to friends, to community, through venues like exhibitions, newspapers, and magazines… When larger communities witness the work that people are doing through photography, it’s an incredible affirmation for anybody who’s done that work… The basic elements are inviting people in to express themselves and inviting people to listen.”
Peace photography thriving
The idea of “peace photography” is still an emerging concept, but it is already making a significant impact. Fairey articulated this succinctly: “While peace photography isn’t established as a genre, the Imaging Peace research established that in practice and as a way of working with communities and supporting recovery from conflict and transformation of conflict, it is actually thriving.” (The projects featured here, and those of 21 countries, informs the project book, Peace Photography: A Guide.)
As the session concluded, the collective sentiment seemed to be that peace photography is not just an art form but a practice deeply embedded in ethical care, community involvement, and proactive engagement. Each speaker offered a unique lens through which to view peace photography, and yet, they all pointed to the same hopeful possibilities that photography brings in healing wounds, fostering dialogue, and, ultimately, imagining peace.
Cross-published at Mr Ulster.
Peacebuilding a shared Northern Irish society ✌️ Editor 🔍 Writer ✏️ Photographer 📸 https://mrulster.com
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