Visual Evidences on the Genocide in Darfur Essay Example for Free

Visual Evidences on the Genocide in Darfur Essay There is an old saying that goes â€Å"a picture paints a thousand words. † There is almost perfect truth in this proverb. Images are worth more than the medium on which they were created, the colors they show, the shapes and textures they protrude and the subjects they portray. They keep inside literally a million of information. In fact, the human mind registers images better than words or sounds. This concept can be seen in teaching grade school students, where images are used a lot. Also, presenters use a lot of pictures in their slides to illustrate points and mark their theses. Ultimately, photographs are tools used not only to capture still life images, but also to relay messages and thoughts. Sometimes these informations are vague, and hard to understand. Such as that in abstract paintings, where different observers and art critics can have varying interpretations, each having perfect sense. But there are images that have straightforward notes, photographs that have only one perfect meaning and description. These clear cut photographs were used by Nick Kristof in one of his works. These were just a few taken from an archive of photographs on the genocide in Darfur (Kristof, 2005). He posted these on a website, available to the masses, with some paragraphs of his own editorial. By doing so, his article gained a huge advantage over other essays found regarding the same topic. This is due to the attention catching theme of the photographs. Kristof posted pictures of dead humans, killed in bizarre and very disturbing ways. An onlooker would immediately notice the article as something unusual, something catchy and probably worth their time. But the real essence of these photographs was their ability to portray several principles and concepts about the genocide happening in Darfur. First it gives an idea of who are killed. Of course, the editorial gives us information about it. The author wrote all about the Arabs driving out the Africans (Kristof, 2005). But by the pictures themselves, one can decipher that fact without prior knowledge of the genocide – the four photos show four corpses of Africans. These images are powerful enough to stir a looker’s consciousness towards these Africans. Another is the idea of mercilessly killing anybody. The first picture greatly stresses this point. In this image one can see a young boy, lying dead and facing the ground. From his small body one can estimate his age to be no higher than about 4 years old. At a very young age, he was attacked, as the editorial notes, together with his brother and mother. He was still wearing his home clothes, and even had a pair of shoes on his feet when he was killed. This represents one of the many child killings that happened during the genocide. There was no space to spare anyone, and every African was subjected to death. The photographs also show the mutilations and tortures the victims endure before finally being put down. On one image, a skeleton lies with the hands tied together with pants pulled down up to the knees. This suggests the possibility of sexual torture before killing the victim (Kristof, 2005). This image in particular tends to stick out because of the skeleton corpse. This shows the lack of proper burial, and that the dead bodies of the Africans are just left to rot and decompose on the hot sand. These pictures do tell their own story. As a matter of fact, I think the four images are enough to portray the misery and darkness in Darfur. By themselves, a lot of information can be taken about the mistreatment and inhuman actions of the Sudan government towards the Africans. The author’s action in accompanying his editorial with these photographs took his subject a level higher. Not only did the pictures catch all important attention, they also created a kind of tension that tends to spark feelings on observers. These visual evidences on the genocide in Darfur are very strong and more effective compared to voices and texts describing it. By placing photographs, the author created a face-to-face frame, where the audiences are faced with the dark truth and evidence about the slaughter. References Kristof, N. D. (2005). The secret genocide archive. The New York Times website. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from http://www. nytimes. com/2005/02/23/opinion/23kristof. html? _r=2oref=sloginoref=slogin