Power(lessness) of atrocity images: Bijeljina photos between perpetration and prosecution of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia
The wars in the former Yugoslavia coincided with both the rise of international transitional justice discourses and with a revolution in visual recording, resulting in an abundance of visuals documenting extreme violence. This article investigates the conditions behind the creation of such visual ma...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2015
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| In: |
International journal of transitional justice
Year: 2015, Volume: 9, Issue: 3, Pages: 367-385 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | The wars in the former Yugoslavia coincided with both the rise of international transitional justice discourses and with a revolution in visual recording, resulting in an abundance of visuals documenting extreme violence. This article investigates the conditions behind the creation of such visual material, as well as the impact of its circulation on the delivery of justice in the former Yugoslavia. The visual record of unpunished crimes is examined in one of the most infamous wartime photographs, taken in the Bosnian city of Bijeljina in the spring of 1992. In it, a young, armed man in a military uniform, sunglasses on his head, cigarette in his hand, attempts to hold his balance while kicking a dead woman. This photo became one of the quintessential representations of war in Bosnia. The circumstances of its creation, circulation and contestation are paradigmatic of the troubled process of coming to terms with the criminal past in Serbia, with wider ramifications for the use of visuals in other regions affected by mass violence. |
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| Physical Description: | Illustrationen |
| ISSN: | 1752-7724 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/ijtj/ijv010 |