Most mediated images of suffering attempt to elicit seemingly benign responses from the viewer. In this sense, they are a form of propaganda: either actively calling for the prevention of further or similar suffering; or passively ‘bearing witness’. To make, circulate, publish, exhibit or curate images of suffering bodies, bodies in pain and corpses is therefore to draw attention to suffering in a specific way; it is to make a statement that cannot be made by other means and in a manner that calls upon viewers to respond. This raises profound moral challenges that deserve specific attention.
It is in response to these challenges that MARS (Morality and Representations of Suffering) has evolved. We are a multidisciplinary group of practitioners and academics who offer a forum within which to debate moral issues around images of suffering; we seek to ask questions that can all too easily disappear in the face of more concrete concerns . Our project thus seeks to extend the scope of debate beyond issues of desensitization and sensationalism, and to include documentary, news and other such images, both still and moving. In particular, we are interested in:
A key objective of MARS is to recognise the ‘practitioner experience’ in the exploration of these issues. Bringing together a diverse range of practitioners and academics, MARS is thus fundamentally informed by, whilst seeking to inform, moral dimensions in the production and dissemination of images of suffering in a pragmatic yet scholarly manner. Starting with a number of informal workshops to tease out issues and to establish an agreed agenda, we hope to initiate a research project that brings together practitioners, academics and the public in an international context.
m.a.r.s grew out of collaboration between academics and practitioners in the the Memory of Fire Brighton Photo Biennial. For more information on Memory of Fire please visit their website:
