The looking/not looking dilemma

When confronted with images of war and other forms of human suffering, notlooking is not an option, not only because we are permanently exposed to images but alsobecause it would not seem to be a morally tenable position. However, looking at images ofhuman suffering is often said to prolong this very suffering and to fix human subjects asvictims. Especially when acts of violence have been committed in order to produce imagesof these very acts the relationship between viewing the images and participating in the actsof violence qua viewer appears to be uncomfortably close indeed. Thus, looking is not anoption, either. This article, in the first part, engages with standard criticisms of photography,especially with accusations according to which photographs aestheticise that which theydepict and desensitise their viewers. In the second part it discusses Alfredo Jaar’s and JeffWall’s work in order to show possible ways to circumvent the looking/not looking dilemma