Ever since the landmark publication of Susan Sontags On Photography, it has been impossible to look at photographs, particularly those of violence and suffering, without questioning our role as photographic voyeur. Are we desensitized by the proliferation of these images? Or do the images stir our own sense of justice and act as a call to arms? Are we consuming the suffering of others?What should our responses to these images be? To answer these questions, Picturing Atrocity brings together essays from some of the foremost writers on photography today.
