We live in a world where most of our knowledge of conflict is shaped by photography. The stylistic and sensationalised depictions of war ever present in the mass media is regulating our awareness to the atrocities that human beings are capable of.

By blurring the confines between what is fact and fantasy through documentary and digital manipulation the work on show highlights the perception that many interpretations of an event of conflict are stylised and therefore in a sense become false and untrue. The fictional view of war that is also enhanced by film and television has given a vision of conflict a deceptive face which to us appears to be spectacular and sensational.

Evidentially we have just left one of the most violent centuries in human history, even with the presence of photography our experiences of seeing events of appalling carnage which include for example the Holocaust - have not stopped similar atrocities happening again. As we move into the 21st century there is no doubt that photography has heightened our awareness to conflict but it has also dampened the senses. Our fascination is with the stylistic portrayal of war that makes it increasingly more difficult for the photographer to make the difference between the successful and meaningful depiction of horror or merely pander to our banal, voyeuristic appetites.

Ben Russell

University of Derby, course BA(Hons) Photography