Troubling Images: Bloody Sunday and its Photographic Aftermath

TY - CONF

T1 - Troubling Images

T2 - Media and Conflict Memory:

AU - Plummer, Sandra

PY - 2023/11/23

Y1 - 2023/11/23

N2 - Photographs of the ‘Troubles’ often comprise ‘decisive moments’ - iconic snapshots that isolate a frozen instant from an unfolding sequence of events. At first glance, many of the photographs of Bloody Sunday encapsulate this trope. The massacre began on a Sunday afternoon on 30th January 1972 and lasted for around thirty minutes. Within half an hour, 13 unarmed civilians had been shot dead by the British Army (a fourteenth would die soon after from his injuries). Later named Bloody Sunday, the shocking incidents were captured by international photographers such as Gilles Peress and Fulvio Grimaldi. Yet these photographs took on an enduring significance that greatly transcended their momentary duration and the ephemeral interest of the media. This paper explores the life of these photographs of Bloody Sunday through their beginnings in photojournalism, through to their employment at public inquiries, in photographic books, and on murals within the Bogside. I will focus in particular on photographic publications by Grimaldi and Peress that demonstrate contrasting aims and approaches. Grimaldi’s (and North’s) Blood in the Street comprises an evidentiary investigation including transcribed conversations recorded on the day. Originally published in 1972, it presents a contemporaneous and immediate account of Bloody Sunday. Peress’ photographs of Bloody Sunday – as reproduced in Whatever You Say, Say Nothing (2021) – are part of a work of “documentary fiction” that conveys decades of reflection. The work of both photographers though converges in their employment by the local community – activating remembrance, memorials and campaigns for justice. Bloody Sunday’s photographic mediation takes many forms - including the digital and legal scrutiny of the Saville Inquiry. The adaptation of photographs into painted murals enacts a break in the indexical chain that produces a new type of ‘photographic’ afterlife – one that nevertheless retains some traces of the original. The decisive moments of Grimaldi will be contrasted with the more cinematic and ‘helicoidal’ approach of Peress. Theorists on photography, affect and trauma will inform the analysis. This paper will explore how momentary exposures -captured in a matter of minutes- can produce a traumatic encounter that persists into the present day.

AB - Photographs of the ‘Troubles’ often comprise ‘decisive moments’ - iconic snapshots that isolate a frozen instant from an unfolding sequence of events. At first glance, many of the photographs of Bloody Sunday encapsulate this trope. The massacre began on a Sunday afternoon on 30th January 1972 and lasted for around thirty minutes. Within half an hour, 13 unarmed civilians had been shot dead by the British Army (a fourteenth would die soon after from his injuries). Later named Bloody Sunday, the shocking incidents were captured by international photographers such as Gilles Peress and Fulvio Grimaldi. Yet these photographs took on an enduring significance that greatly transcended their momentary duration and the ephemeral interest of the media. This paper explores the life of these photographs of Bloody Sunday through their beginnings in photojournalism, through to their employment at public inquiries, in photographic books, and on murals within the Bogside. I will focus in particular on photographic publications by Grimaldi and Peress that demonstrate contrasting aims and approaches. Grimaldi’s (and North’s) Blood in the Street comprises an evidentiary investigation including transcribed conversations recorded on the day. Originally published in 1972, it presents a contemporaneous and immediate account of Bloody Sunday. Peress’ photographs of Bloody Sunday – as reproduced in Whatever You Say, Say Nothing (2021) – are part of a work of “documentary fiction” that conveys decades of reflection. The work of both photographers though converges in their employment by the local community – activating remembrance, memorials and campaigns for justice. Bloody Sunday’s photographic mediation takes many forms - including the digital and legal scrutiny of the Saville Inquiry. The adaptation of photographs into painted murals enacts a break in the indexical chain that produces a new type of ‘photographic’ afterlife – one that nevertheless retains some traces of the original. The decisive moments of Grimaldi will be contrasted with the more cinematic and ‘helicoidal’ approach of Peress. Theorists on photography, affect and trauma will inform the analysis. This paper will explore how momentary exposures -captured in a matter of minutes- can produce a traumatic encounter that persists into the present day.

UR - https://drpauljreilly.com/panel-4-the-troubles/

M3 - Paper

Y2 - 22 November 2023 through 23 November 2023

ER -