ETIKA REPREZENTACIJE GROZOTE: ISTINA IZMEĐU VIĐENJA I MIŠLJENJA
ETHICS OF ATROCITY REPRESENTATION: THE TRUTH BETWEEN SEEING AND THINKING

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with certain ethical aspects of atrocity photographs. It predominantly interprets considerations made by Judith Butler and Susan Sontag. Within the specific tie between the notion of horror and photography – the latter proving to be somewhat a condition of the former – the author points to two basic groups of ethical issues of this type of photography. On the one hand, there are production issues, that is, choosing how the event will be recorded or shown, which relate to different pre-defined frames of representation. On the other hand, we have questions of reception or ethical reaction, understanding that the event should be conveyed in a way that allows for reaction and reflection that could lead to change. It is shown that the complex relation between production and reception is fundamentally marked by the relations of interpretation of reality, truth, power and government of others, whereby the photograph of atrocity remains only a blank space for emotional identification. The possibility of deviating from the usual relation of these terms, understood as bringing the reception into production, is indicated in a kind of inversion that sees or reads the production in the reception. A key aspect of this process is thought, which is found to be neglected within the memory culture.

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