An event with Photographer Andy Barnham and Professor Sara de Jong
When: Thursday 25 April 2024, 3.30-5.30 pm
Organised by: Visual Ethics Network, CModS Research Strand, University of York
This Visual Ethics Network event will explore the ethics of photography and visual activism by looking at a collaborative project entitled We Are Here, Because You Were There: Afghan Interpreters in the UK, created by the photographer Andy Barnham and Professor Sara de Jong from the Politics and International Relations Department of the University of York. This ongoing project explores the trauma of war and how it was experienced by both Afghan interpreters who worked for the British Army in the Afghanistan war and their families (2001-2021) and by veteran advocates. By involving both portrait photography and testimonies, the visual outcome incorporates visually edited images and quotes by the aforementioned interviewed participants. The event will tackle questions of trauma, injury, military intervention, forced migration, political solidarity and how these are approached and made visible through research-based portrait photography and visual design, as a way of addressing and interrogating complex ethical issues.
The series is currently exhibited at Impressions Gallery, Bradford (on until 04 May 2024) and sections can be viewed at the ground floor of the Spring Lane Building of the University of York.
Schedule
15.30 – 15.50: Group visit of the show at Spring Lane Building, University of York campus
15.50 – 16.10: Tea and Coffee, Humanities Research Centre foyer (ground floor) – event will take place at Bowland Auditorium, HRC (ground floor)
16.10 – 16.20: Introductory talk by Dr Kyveli Lignou-Tsamantani, art historian
16.20 – 17.00: Talk and screening by photographer Andy Barnham and Prof. Sara de Jong
17.00 – 17.20: In conversation between Andy Barnham and Prof. Sara de Jong, facilitated by Dr Kyveli Lignou-Tsamantani
17.20 – 17.30: Q & A
Please book your free ticket here: https://forms.gle/atBSmSSDbGFG4Duh9
The event is funded by the Centre for Modern Studies, University of York.
For any queries, please email: kyveli.lignou-tsamantani@york.ac.uk
Speakers’ bios
Andy Barnham, Photographer /
Andy Barnham is a portrait photographer and a British Army veteran. Born in Hong Kong he is both a child of the end of the British Empire and he is also the son of a refugee; his mother and her family fled Vietnam in the closing days of the Vietnam War finding sanctuary in the USA. ‘We Are Here, Because You Were There’ is an multi award winning project achieving recognition in Prix de la Photographie, Paris, the Monochrome Awards, the Neutral Density Awards, the Tokyo International Foto Award and was nominated for the Human Cycle of the Prix Pictet.
Sara de Jong, Researcher /
Professor Sara de Jong (University of York) has researched the claims to protection and rights by Afghan interpreters and their advocates in countries involved in the Afghanistan war (2001-2021) for the past six years. Her research traces continuities between colonial and neo-imperial ab/uses of local brokers, such as interpreters, who are often indispensable but treated as expendable. It centres Afghan voices, interrogates and informs resettlement policies and connects advocates internationally. Together with three Afghanistan veterans, she co-founded the Sulha Alliance, which advocates for Afghan interpreters and other locally employed civilians employed by the British Army.