On this website, we seek to share stories that convey the afterlives of violent conflict. When violence takes places, we argue, there is no simple way ‘back’. Violence alters society, rewires individuals and colors or stains imagination of the future. The website is inspired by the first project it presents, TRACES.  

This year, 2024, marks 9 years since I witnessed the start of a new, violent political crisis in Burundi. The events left me with confusion. They made me acutely aware of the limits to understanding violence, also because some ways of ‘knowing’ are cut off or no longer make sense. Nothing is what it seems, shows or says, while being all of that also. My experiences inspired me to experiment with the different senses involved in ‘knowing’. It compelled me to collaborate with an artist to conduct photo-ethnographic research: to combine photography with ethnography. Can photography and ethnography together convey a multi-layered story, closer to lived experience (Pink, 2003).

By combining pictures and narratives, we also hope to reach audiences beyond academia and art. Pictures may be more appealing especially in this era of multi-media productions. But perhaps more importantly, the aesthetics of art photography can compel people, in many walks of life, to look and listen to stories that may otherwise remain unknown.