Eyes on the Ground and Eyes in the Sky. Satellite and Participatory Surveillance: Photography in Sudan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33700/1580-7118.19.2.113-133(2017)Keywords:
satellite surveillance photography, articipatory photography, documentary photography, photography of atrocities, SudanAbstract
The paper analyses the project of participatory surveillance (Ears and Eyes of God, 2009–ongoing) and on the satellite surveillance project (The Satellite Sentinel Project, 2010–2015) in the border area between South and North Sudan. Both projects try to raise awareness of atrocities being committed in this region by various belligerent parties fighting for control over the region and both advocate for the benefit of the civilian communities affected. The paper addresses and analyses the power of photography to deter, advocate, and provide evidence. It analyses the difference between explicit, first-hand visualisation and implied, indicative visualisation of the two projects. It argues that understanding the role of photography in contemporaneity in general (and in these two cases in particular) the investigation should turn away from the questions of re-presentation and focus more closely on the logic of the photographing itself (the act of photography) and its possibility of structuring the reality.
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