Jan Banning Photographs Genocide Survivors and Perpetrators Together in Rwanda
Dutch photographer Jan Banning's series 'Blood Bonds: Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda' features 18 portraits of survivors and perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide posing together. The project, paired with text by writer Dick Wittenberg, documents reconciliation through community-based sociotherapy groups. Since 2005, over 115,000 individuals have participated in these groups, where perpetrators express remorse and ask forgiveness, sometimes revealing grave locations. Banning used film noir lighting to evoke moral ambiguity, leaving subjects to choose their poses. The series has been published widely but has struggled to find museum exhibition, particularly in Belgium, Rwanda's former colonial power. Banning's previous work includes 'The Verdict: The Christina Boyer Case' about wrongful incarceration in the U.S.
Key facts
- Jan Banning's 'Blood Bonds' includes 18 portraits of genocide survivors and perpetrators.
- The project was inspired by a 2023 encounter with a Rwandan trade unionist who forgave his mother's killer.
- Banning collaborated with writer Dick Wittenberg for the accompanying texts.
- The series uses film noir lighting to convey moral ambiguity.
- Over 115,000 Rwandans have participated in sociotherapy groups since 2005.
- The 1994 genocide killed an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
- Banning worked with the organization CBS (community-based social therapy) to find subjects.
- No Belgian museum has yet agreed to exhibit the series.
- Banning's previous project 'The Verdict' focused on a wrongfully incarcerated woman in Georgia, USA.
- The portraits were shot in Rwanda in 2024.
Entities
Artists
- Jan Banning
- Dick Wittenberg
Institutions
- CBS Rwanda
- My Modern Met
- Dutch embassy
Locations
- Rwanda
- Belgium
- Georgia
- United States
- Gasabo district