Looking into Themselves. Women Documenting Wars and Their Aftermath

Abstract

Throughout the twentieth century, several women artists have photographically interpreted not only the destruction during World War II, the Yugoslav Wars of the first half of the 1990s, and/or their aftermaths, but other types of crises since the period of World War I as well. These interpretations warrant discussion in the context of a more comprehensive representation of the women’s gaze. By creating private photo albums at the beginning of the century, capturing life in internment camps and depicting the everyday aspects of existence during World War II, and extending into contemporary re-evaluations of politics and memory production influenced by the breakup of Yugoslavia, women artists chronicle the wartime reality and its consequences, which is in stark contrast to the prevailing belief that women often operated within the safety of their comfort zone. Through their photographic practice, they illuminate the gaps in history and the effects of fabricating certain segments of it, and respond by capturing images that transition from private, intimate settings to public discourse.