The Ineffability of Suffering and Its Images in Rithy Panh’s “The Missing Picture”
Abstract
The text approaches the problem of ineffability of suffering presented in the documentary autobiographical film The Missing Picture (L’Image manquante, 2013) by Rithy Panh. The director, in the absence of photographs of atrocities committed in the period of 1975-1979 by Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, from the perspective of the victims, staged shots that could act as a substitute visual representation. The author analyses and interprets the character given to the missing picture by the director, using the ideas of Georges Didi-Huberman on the Holocaust, presented in Images malgre tout. The article, in the light of John Burke’s work, shows how archival propaganda material can be used as a historical evidence. The author relies on Susan Sontag’s and Judith Butler’s work on photographic representation of suffering, and Andre Rouille’s approach to war photographs as a historical context.
Keywords:
Rithy Panh, Georges Didi-Huberman, Cambodia, photography, representationReferences
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.8.3.10
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Authors
Gabriela Sitekkwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University Poland
Doktorantka w Instytucie Sztuk Audiowizualnych Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Absolwentka filologii polskiej na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim i podyplomowych studiów Wiedza o Kulturze w Polskiej Akademii Nauk. Interesuje się kinem dokumentalnym, found footage, autobiografizmem, perspektywami pamięci. Współpracowała z kwartalnikiem „Res Publica Nowa” jako sekretarz redakcji, publikując recenzje filmowe i artykuły z zakresu audiowizualności. Współpracuje z portalem Gazeta.pl jako redaktorka. Członkini Grupy Okołofotograficznej prowadzącej działania z zakresu animacji kultury.
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