This chapter examines photographs of children born of wartime rape from World War II, the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992–1995) to explore what can be seen, as well as for whom and to whom the photographs speak. The author distinguishes how the photographs ask the public to define themselves: with a humanitarian gaze, a laudatory embrace of a state’s priority over birthing policies, or as a challenge to join a conversation led by communities directly impacted by violence. All three sets of photographs contain ambiguous glimpses of people outside this single frame of children born of rape. The children become adults, dreaming of their own open futures. The author argues that embedded within the photographs is the unstated desire that the reason for the photography itself could fade from view. The frame is meaningful only if it eventually loses its capacity to define the lives presented.
“Triptych: Seeing Children Born of Wartime Rape” in Challenging Conceptions: Children Born of Wartime Rape and Sexual Exploitation (eds) Kimberly Theidon and Dyan Mazurana. (Oxford University Press, January 2, 2023)
