Cristophe CALAIS

These pictures were shot in 1998. Four years after the genocide in Rwanda, the survivors have forgotten nothing of the horror they lived through. They hid beneath corpses and saw the murders of their family. Others fled Rwanda and saw mothers throwing babies in the river or husbands killing their wife. Everyone in Rwanda has witnessed the murder of a loved one, sometimes denounced by a neighbor or a friend. For the survivors, the genocide did not end in 1994. It continues silently. Most survivors suffer from hallucinations, obsessive fears, eating or sleeping disorders. They often do not know the origin of these symptoms and believe they can heal them with medicine. They are thousands, facing the guilt of having survived and struggling with their desire for revenge but also, sometimes, for forgiveness. A text detailing the story of each survivor photographed here is avalaible through the photographer.

	CHRISTOPHE CALAIS		home page site en français switch to english
	The silence of the living		1/15 play contact sheet
	These pictures were shot in 1998. Four years after the genocide in Rwanda, the survivors have forgotten nothing of the horror they lived through. They hid beneath corpses and saw the murders of their family. Others fled Rwanda and saw mothers throwing babies in the river or husbands killing their wife. Everyone in Rwanda has witnessed the murder of a loved one, sometimes denounced by a neighbor or a friend. For the survivors, the genocide did not end in 1994. It continues silently. Most survivors suffer from hallucinations, obsessive fears, eating or sleeping disorders. They often do not know the origin of these symptoms and believe they can heal them with medicine. They are thousands, facing the guilt of having survived and struggling with their desire for revenge but also, sometimes, for forgiveness. A text detailing the story of each survivor photographed here is avalaible through the photographer.