KRISTIAN SKEIE:
LIFE AFTER GENOCIDE THE MAY GALLERY AT WEBSTER UNIVERSITY
In October 2015, Swiss photojournalist Kristian Skeie discussed his photo project, Life After Genocide: Rwanda and Srebrenica in Bosnia Herzegovina, with a room of Webster University students who had been infants during the various wars that affected those countries some twenty years ago, respectively in 1994 and 1995. Skeie commented on the similarities and differences between the atrocities committed in both countries. He posited that while the scale of what happened in Bosnia and in Rwanda was different, the possibility of preventing both conflicts existed. His work is about acknowledging what did happen, with the hopes that if properly documented and acknowledged, it might not happen again. Skeie's work is haunting and disturbing. His portrait of Raphael, a Hutu man, captures one of the thousands of Hutus who actively participated in the genocidal murders of the Tutsis in 1994. Raphael's sparse defense for his actions: “He did what he was told to do.” Skeie also presents Reverien who, at age 15, lost his entire family in an attack by the Hutus. Though spared his life, he was mutilated. Now a middle-aged man living in Switzerland, Reverien has returned to Rwanda for the first time in twenty years. Skeie photographed Reverien sitting on the bed of Janvier, a woman the Tutsi man met when they were both children receiving help at a Red Cross Hospital in 1994. At age 11, Janvier was permanently paralyzed. In the photo documenting their meeting, Reverien covers his face with his right hand, giving the impression he is reliving the agony of their shared trauma while Janiver stares at him, stone-faced. In Srebrenica, Bosnia, Skeie photographed the “Mars Mira,” the Peace March that commemorates the anniversary of the Bosnian genocide. Over the course of three days, the marchers follow the steps of the 8,000 Bosnians who were killed when attempting to escape Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. Many of the surviving Bosnians are still tying to identify the bodies of their slain loved ones so that
Kristian Skeie, from Life After Genocide, (photo credit: Richard Reilly)
they may finally bury them. By July 11, 2014, 613 bodies were properly laid to rest. Skeie shares a photo of an older woman, named Saliah, standing in an open field with arms slightly raised. She avoids direct contact with the camera, staring elsewhere. Her husband and both her sons were killed during the Srebrenica genocide in 1994. Alone and without support, she subsists on her own agrarian efforts. She told Skeie that her work keeps her going, as it helps her to avoid thinking about the past. There are numerous photos of young Bosnian men carrying coffins filled with the remains from the former conflict. The young men’s expressions
suggest that in carrying the coffins they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. Amongst photographs of older women and men in prayer, some sitting next to the wooden grave stakes, there is a woman name Advija. Advija stands apart from the other mourners, avoiding contact with Skeie's camera. Her hands hold up her head while the deep wrinkles around her eyes portray her as a woman who has seen more than she should. She identified and buried her father's remains in 2012. The somber mood of the photos of both the survivors from Rwanda and the Srebrenica genocides are balanced by photos of the current generation of young children and teenagers born after the conflicts. From the Rwandan series, Skeie has various images of young boys running through the streets playing games. In the Srebrenica series, there are photos of teenagers, laughing and joking, perhaps contemplating their futures. Skeie observes that, in both countries, life continues. Skeie reports that both countries have dealt with the legacy of their past quite differently. In Bosnia, people continue to be separated by their religions, as Christians and Muslims. They do not live together. Nor do they interact with each other. In Rwanda, the government has resettled many Hutus and Tutsis together, literally placing those that committed the murders into the same communities with those whose loved ones were murdered. Wondering if these responses sprang from differences in religious faith and/or philosophical perspectives, Skeie noted that the Rwandans seemed more interested in discussing forgiveness and reconciliation than their Bosnian counterparts. “This is something that interested me. Why is it like that?” While his project does not presume to give answers, his series does force his viewers to engage the questions. -John Blair
Kristian Skeie, from Life After Genocide, (photo credit: Richard Reilly) 03 ALLTHEARTSTL.COM WINTER 2015
IN REVIEW