Lors du génocide de 1994 au Rwanda, un grand nombre de femmes ont été victimes de violences sexuelles utilisées comme arme de guerre et quelque 20 000 enfants sont nés des viols qu’elles ont subis. Jonathan Torgovnik a interviewé un certain nombre de femmes et les a photographiées avec leurs enfants, en publiant Conséquences prévues: Enfants rwandais nés d’un viol en 2009). Publié en tant qu’ouvrage de divulgation: Rwandan Children Born of Rape, ce projet continue de mettre en évidence l’utilisation de la violence sexuelle comme arme et ses conséquences. C’est un traumatisme tortueux et profond qui affecte les enfants qui en résultent et qui se transmet également aux générations futures. En revisitant ces familles, Torgovnik a découvert une histoire difficile mais significative aux implications puissantes. C’est une histoire d’espoir et de pardon, de fragilité, de traumatisme et d’effets profonds du génocide ; photos en couleurs.
Jonathan Torgovnik (born in Israel,1969) is an award winning photographer, Emmy nominated filmmaker, and educator. His personal documentary projects dealing with underreported social issues have been recognized with numerous awards and honors such as the UK National Portrait Gallery Photographic Portrait Prize, the duPont Columbia University Journalism Award, Prix Découverte d’Arles, Open Society Foundations Documentary photography Project Fellowship Grant, the Getty Grant for Editorial Photography, an Emmy nomination, Webby Award, and World Press Photo award.
Torgovnik is the author of two books: Bollywood Dreams: An Exploration of the Motion Picture Industry, and it’s Culture in India (Phaidon,2003), and Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape (Aperture,2009). His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in museums, galleries, and institutions around the world and are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, and the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Following Torgovnik’s deep involvement in his long-term project Intended Consequences in Rwanda, Torgovnik co- founded the non-governmental organization Foundation Rwanda, that supports secondary school education for children born of rape during the Rwandan genocide. (www.foundationrwanda.org).
Jonathan is a firm believer in the power of photography as a catalyst to help create social change and is committed to documenting issues relating to social injustice, human rights, trauma, and global health. Torgovnik is currently based in South Africa.
During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a large number of women were victims of sexual violence used as a weapon of war, and some 20,000 children were born as a result of the rapes they endured. Jonathan Torgovnik interviewed a number of the women and photographed them with their children, publishing Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape in 2009). Published as Disclosure: Rwandan Children Born of Rape, this project continues to highlight the use of sexual violence as a weapon and its consequences. It is a tortuous and profound trauma that affects the children born as a result and is also passed down to future generations. In revisiting these families, Torgovnik has uncovered a difficult but meaningful story with powerful implications. It is a story of hope and forgiveness, of fragility, and of the deep trauma and effects of genocide.
