Eyewitness
Solo Exhibition by René Clement
November 7 - December 12, 2024
The Photographic Gallery in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication curated Eyewitness, a photographic documentary about the aftermath of armed conflicts by award-winning documentary photographer René Clement.
The iconic Vietnam War photograph Napalm Girl (1972) shocked the world and changed the course of this anticolonial conflict. The image was later credited with hastening an end to the Vietnam War. Over the decades, the public has witnessed horrific atrocities streaming live on media platforms, often sparking outrage across the world yet without affecting political policy or reducing wars and conflicts. Has the visual image lost its agency? Has the public become numb to the horrifying realities of war?
The genocide in Gaza and violence across the region brought forth these questions about the responsibility of the media and audiences to respond in meaningful ways to human suffering.
Eyewitness brought together René Clement’s photographic work from six conflict zones. The exhibition documents stories of suffering from the Palestinian West Bank (occupied since 1967), Afghanistan (war between 2001–2021), Iraq (war between 2003–2011), Bosnia (war between 1992–1995), Mexico (indigenous uprising against the government in 1994) and Haiti (coup d’état in 2004).
Over the course of thirty-three years, Clement used photography to shed light on the continued suffering of people living in regions still torn by the ravages of armed conflict.
The body of work on view addressed displacement, mental illness, violence against women and the continued cycles of conflict. This exhibition serves as a reminder of the state of perpetual war that characterizes the global (dis)order of the 21st century.
René Clement
René Clement is a photojournalist and artist based in Cairo, Egypt. His work has been published internationally, and his portrait and documentary photography have been awarded numerous prizes including Time Magazine Picture of the Year, the Dutch Silver Camera competition and the European Newspaper Award.
Originally from the Netherlands, Clement lived in New York City from 1998 to 2018 and now calls Cairo home. He contributes editorial photography to several European newspapers and the Beeldunie Agency. His artwork is represented by Gallery Tintera in Egypt.
Clement has worked on several long-term projects, including Promising Land – Land vol Beloften, a photographic contemplation of six years among Dutch Americans in Iowa, and Scar Tissue, a pictorial study in newspaper format that focuses on New York City’s recovery ten years after the 9/11 tragedy.
This exhibition was the first time Clement’s documentary work from wide-ranging conflict zones was presented together.
