Documents of War: The Ethics and Challenges of Visual Storytelling

On March 8 and 9 (Friday and Saturday), Allegheny will host a mini-conference on the visual representation of armed conflict.  “Documents of War: the Ethics and Challenges of Visual Storytelling” will feature the following presenters: 

  • Denver Post photojournalist Craig Walker, who this year won his second Pulitzer Prize (in feature photography) for his portrayal of a veteran of the Iraq War, living back home through the traumas of that experience.
  • Pamela Yates, director of Granito, an award-winning documentary about the Guatemalan Civil War and the role of video evidence in attempts to bring to justice perpetrators of genocide.
  • Ken Kobré, professor of photojournalism at San Francisco State and director of the documentary Deadline Every Second, which follows the sometimes fraught and dangerous work routine of 12 AP photographers.
  • Cheryl Hatch, Visiting Professor of Journalism at Allegheny, and J.R. Ancheta, who as independent photojournalists documented the day-to-day life of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in 2011.

These guests, along with Allegheny students, will present their work and discuss with attendees the challenges and implications of representing their subjects. The conference will wrestle with timely moral, aesthetic, and political questions for a world increasingly eager for visual evidence of suffering.

The conference also will include an exhibit of photographs from the Nuremberg trials, on loan from the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, N.Y.

Sponsored by Allegheny’s Center for Political Participation, the Provost of the College, and the Robert H. Jackson Center, the conference itself begins Friday, March 8, at 7 pm, with a showing and panel discussion of Deadline Every Second at the Vukovich Center.

All events are free and open to the public. All events will be at the Vukovich Center.

The schedule:

March 8 at 7 p.m.–“A Deadline Every Second”  Film by Ken Kobre, with panel discussion to follow.

March 9 at 10 a.m.–Generation of War: From Africa to Afghanistan with Cheryl Hatch and JR Ancheta

March 9 at 1 p.m.–“American Soldier” and “Welcome Home” Photo essays by Craig Walker

March 9 at 7 p.m.–“Granito” Showing of timely documentary, with film’s creator Pamela Yates