The Enclave

by Thomas Stearns, Richard Mosse (Photographer), Ben Frost (Contributor)

For the last three years, Richard Mosse (born 1980) has photographed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region in which a long-standing power vacuum has resulted in a horrifying cycle of violence. The Enclave is the culmination of Mosse’s recent efforts to radically rethink traditional representations of conflict photography, drawing on artistic and documentary strategies in equal measure. Shooting with both still and 16 mm cameras, he uses a discontinued military surveillance film, which registers an invisible spectrum of infrared light. Mosse has captured the landscape in disorienting psychedelic hues of scarlet, lavender, cobalt and puce, creating images that are deceptively seductive and alluring. Ultimately, however, the resulting images and film map the otherwise invisible edges of violence, chaos and incommunicable horror of isolated, jungle war zones. At the heart of the project, as Mosse states, is his exploration of the contradictions and limits of art’s ability “to represent narratives so painful that they exist beyond language--and photography’s capacity to document specific tragedies and communicate them to the world.” The Enclave has been printed in a total of 1,000 copies, 250 of which have been released as part of a limited-edition boxed set. The boxed set includes a 45 rpm record with sound and music design by Ben Frost; a poster featuring an image by Richard Mosse (depicted at left) and a transcription from the film; and a signed and numbered copy of the book, released to coincide with an installation of the work at the Venice Biennale.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 31, 2013

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Death is plainly observed by the camera…”

As the author emphasizes, and as anyone familiar with the literature on African colonialism would recognize, Richard Mosse’s "The Enclave" is a horrific yet hauntingly striking work that is uncomfortably reminiscent of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." By employing Kodak's infrared color film Aerochrome to document the civil unrest in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Mosse abstractly builds a catalog of horrific images—dead bodies, desolate vignettes, and surreal, unnaturally vibrant landscapes. The striking hues of Kodak's film transform scenes of trauma and brutality into an unsettling fusion of beauty and devastation, underscoring the unnatural reality of civil unrest and war. Indeed, the sole photo that Mosse did not take here himself—developed from a roll of 35mm color negative film found beside the corpse of a dead soldier—is so deeply tragic and haunting that it's impossible to forget.

Still, attempting to use words to convey the horrific yet haunting essence of Richard Mosse's "The Enclave" is somewhat missing the point. Just find a copy and cautiously immerse yourself in its unsettling beauty.