I do not know how true the statement is that a Ron Haviv image can only be interpreted one way. In the society we live in now, everything can be ripped out of its context and placed into a new one in seconds. However, I do think that stands true in the example of the image of the woman getting kicked in the head. No matter where or in what context this image would have been taken, it is a snapshot of a blatant basic human right violation and a blaring disregard for a human being. I think that this image won such international world fame because no matter who sees the image sees this as it is. There’s no dispute about what is happening. This is why I found it so hard to find negative critiques on his work, especially this photo. He went out of his way to try and make history, putting his life on the line for the sake of others, and to criticize this as an outsider would be baffling to me.

Haviv’s images made a long-standing impact publicizing this war. Almost all of the articles I’ve seen related to the Bosnian War either uses his photos directs or mentions him. People turn to him for the unbiased look on the war; such as this 2015 Vice article titled “A Photographer Looks Back at the Bosnian War”. BBC in the UK called this image “one of the most striking images to come out of the Balkans in the last decade of violence”. National Geographic says that these photos are a reminder that photojournalist’s works, such as Haviv’s, help shape history. A lot of the articles I found discuses his photos used as evidence in trying the cases of many of the perpetrators of war crimes.

 

One article I found an issue with was one on the Lens Blog of the New York Times written by James Estrin in 2013. It starts off talking about making an impact through photojournalism and how Haviv was disappointed when his photos did not make an immediate impact or how they don’t necessarily prevent future evil. They go on to quote him saying, “I’ve now documented three genocides — Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur — and I look back to the lessons of the Holocaust, which were ‘never again,’ ” he said. “Nobody should be able to say they didn’t know what was happening. What we do as photographers is to attempt to create a body of evidence to hold people accountable.” To this comment, Estrin replies, “To him, it is not just the soldier executing people or even his commander or the politician who gave the order who needs to be held accountable. It is the public too.” I have an issue with this writer lumping the soldier executing the people with the public. I understand that he probably doesn’t mean that they are held at the same level, but he makes no distinction of this and then finishes the article. The quote by Haviv is a little vague and this man turns it into something black and white – the exact problem facing photographers today. He just throws this quote in, interprets it, and finishes the article.

 

What I was most interested in and what I couldn’t find was European reaction to those images. All of the articles I found were US or UK based, and as much as our opinions matter, we were not the ones directly affected by this war. In an interview with Haviv in the Globe and Mail, Haviv says, “Twenty years after the photograph was published, Bosnians still respond to Haviv in a way that amazes him. “I’m so happy to meet you … I appreciate everything you did. And then they start crying… It’s actually very uncomfortable because Bosnia is a country suffering still from PTSD … if you scratch a little bit, you’re at war.” I’m sure many people in the Balkans are grateful to Haviv. However, I would be interested in hearing the people’s opinions that he shut down because of the war. Do they still believe in ethnic cleansing? Would they go back and do it all again? Who besides Arkan want to “drink [Haviv’s] blood and what would they say about such a blatant image of a violation of human rights?

 

Sources

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/capturing-a-war-crime/article25016202/

 

http://www.vice.com/read/photos-of-the-bosnia-war

http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/03/ron-havivs-testimony/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1347218.stm