“To heal a world” – 160 years of Red Cross and Red Crescent photography

Six hundred impressive photographs from 160 years of humanitarian aid are on display at the House of Photography as part of the “International Photo Festival Olten” until 4 May. This gives visitors a comprehensive overview of a huge cultural heritage that has been little researched. Visitors will gain an unforgettable insight into the numerous aid missions of the Red Cross and Red Crescent—as they are also confronted with great human suffering.

Many of the photographs were taken by well-known photographers such as Werner Bischof, René Burri, Susan Meisellas, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Alexis Cordesse, but also ordinary Red Cross employees. The exhibit includes personal photos taken by migrants and private individuals, as well as members of the Magnum Photos cooperative. This exhibition is the result of more than two years of research in the collections of the Musée international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge (MICR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
  The history of photography begins with its invention in 1839 and its development is linked to the history of the Red Cross. Twenty-five years later, in 1864, Henry Dunant from Geneva founded the Red Cross which, from its beginning, relied on photographers to raise public awareness of international and humanitarian crises. Photography made it possible to show pictures of the misery of numerous people from all over the world. In this way, it was possible to mobilise more and more people to make donations and thus help to alleviate great suffering.
  The pictures in the exhibition are organised by theme and purpose: Images as a direct appeal for support for the Red Cross, portraits of individual people in need, photos of aid missions, and pictures of numerous victims of political conflicts and natural disasters. There is a profound psychological and emotional impact.
  The exhibition extends over three floors: on the ground floor, impressive photographs from the First and Second World Wars are on display, showing the whole spectrum of hardship and misery during the war, as well as posters appealing for donations for relief operations (e.g., for children in need). Photographs from the history of the Red Cross are shown on a large screen in alternating sequence.
  On the second and third floors we see pictures of victims of famine in Russia (1922) and later images of starving people from Africa. Photographs show people making prostheses for amputees, refugee children during the Second World War, and earthquake victims in Greece, India, and Pakistan. There are images of refugee camps and prisoners as well as documentation of the work of ICRC delegates (including in Lebanon, Yemen, Liberia, Haiti, Sudan and Iran).
  In the same part of the exhibit, a small group of images recalls the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their previously unimaginable destructive power. There are pictures of the war in Yugoslavia (1991–2001), of victims of the conflict between Hutus and Tutsis in the Congo (1994), and of Red Cross operations in the US prison camp at Guantánamo.
  The diversity and extent of ICRC aid missions still being tirelessly carried out all over the world today is impressive indeed. “The exhibition sheds light on a rich photographic heritage that is preserved in our country. It reflects all the challenges of international humanitarian law and encourages us to rethink our view of the images of conflicts and natural disasters that we see in the news every day,” says Pascal Hufschmid, Museum Director of the ICRC Museum in Geneva and co-curator of the exhibition.
  Isabelle Bitterli, Director of the House of Photography, guides visitors through the exhibition, beginning with an overview of the development of photography and using examples to demonstrate how photographs from different periods are designed to inform the viewer and appeal to their emotions at the same time. The comprehensive exhibition catalogue provides a good summary of the numerous exhibits and their history in images and text. The exhibition is expected to be extended beyond 4 May until at least 8 May (the day commemorating the end of the Second World War). •