Croatian War of Independence & Propaganda

The Croatian War of Independence was between 1991-95, Croatia were fighting against the Yugoslav regime and for the independence of the Croatian state. The conflict is said to have been 'well documented' showing the horrifying war crimes including ethnic cleansing, massacres and tortures. However, it is reported that 70 journalists were killed over the 5 year period of fighting, allegedly deliberately targetted. Photojournalism seems to be less pivotal comparing to the Vietnam War, for example, maybe this is due to how dangerous the conditions were for reporters. Below are two photographs by Jean-Claude Coutausse. These photographs were extremely powerful because of how close he managed to get to live conflict, this shows just how terrified the subjects were illustrating to the rest of the world the problem and the need to UN interference.

CROATIA, OSIJEK. Croatian women under a bombing attack from the Yugoslav federal army in September 1991. Jean-Claude Coutausse.

CROATIA, OSIJEK. Croatian militiaman on the front line in September 1991. Jean-Claude Coutausse.

Reinstatement of the red and white checkerboard into the flag, which was previously banned by Yugoslavia, became a large feature in the propaganda showing a clear divide between forces. In1991 Zagreb Arts Fund created an exhibition, 'For the defence and renewal of Croatia', containing and calling for all creatives to develop propaganda posters to show the disturbance to the bloodshed of the conflict. 

VUKOVAR & KRV-ATSKA! / Logo & poster. The town of Vukovar in exile. By Boris Ljubicic. 1991.

Amalgamation of the words; Hrvatska in Croatian 'containing within it', Krv meaning 'blood'. This captures the anger and the disruption that the war is having on the population. The play on words makes it propaganda that engages the viewer and the use of blood shows the loss of Croats as it is bright red, the same as the checkerboard pattern.

Read Between The Lines. Poster/ Broadsheet. Boris Ljubicic. 1994.

The poster/ broadsheet illustrating the actual details of the Battle of Vukovar an award-winning piece of graphic design. Again bringing up the concept of, how artists and designers alike can alter the censorship of information by governments and the military.

Documenta Croatica. S Henningsman & M Tudor. 1991-2. Croatian History Museum.

Above, charity campaigns printed in two sets of colour; red to show the devastation to the people, green to show destruction to the environment.

Last summer I spent a month travelling around Croatia, the signs and war still ever present, especially in places such as Dubrovnik. Bold graffiti of the checkerboard pattern is across the country showing the pride in being its own entity.

References

Graphic Agitation 2- Liz McQuiston. Chapter 3 Perceptions of War.

http://www.e-ir.info/2007/12/22/framing-the-war-in-croatia-propaganda-ideology-and-the-british-press/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4997380.stm

http://www.graphis.com/entry/435a1d42-bc94-11e2-b739-f23c91dffdec/

Vietnam War & Challenging Public Perceptions of Conflict

Public perceptions of conflicts are primarily shaped by the media. However, the arts has its own voice, using predominately an image to tell the story it has a power far greater than just using words. An image can portray; emotion, a connection to the viewer, dissent. Within this post, I shall discuss the power of art when forming dissent against the filtering of information by the government and media outlets.

Jarr’s work above shows how the U.S. filtered the visual information from the Afghanistan War, the public was not allowed to see anything not deemed appropriate. This was done by buying all satellite imaging rights so they were in control of the images the public were allowed to see. This enabled them to feed the population with images selected by the government and create a war 'aesthetic'.  The power of the text is its transparency. The lack of image represents the filtering of information, leaving the public with just facts and information. Free from any influences, such as the media, it was placed in a gallery leaving the viewer to believe that this information to be unbiased. However, Jarr will have his own bias opinion on the conflict this will have an influence on the work, therefore, this works success is limited in my opinion.


Gianni Motti's work titled Collateral Damage, are photographs from the Yugoslav wars. These photographs were given to him by various media outlets because they had not been used, this was due to the photos creating the wrong aesthetic. The photographs show the beautiful landscapes interrupted by clouds of smoke from weapons of mass destruction. This reinforces the theory of governments and the media creating an aesthetic, by removing the inappropriate images from circulation to give people false impressions of conflicts. The strength in Motti's work is the selection of photographs in the series, (available here: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/12/motti.php) standing alone the image does not do it justice.

Gianni Motti's Collateral Damage, 2003.

Changing the public perception of wars away from government lead media outlets is a form of creative dissent. Particularly in conflicts, photojournalism has been a crucial method used. The Vietnam war captured by Philip Jones-Griffiths is beyond dark and upsetting, these images didn’t fit in the U.S. government war aesthetic, therefore it took them 3 years to become published (1971).  The body of work Griffiths produced has an integrity because of its raw uncensored view of the conflict. Photojournalism has been questioned for being unethical because the photographer can frame the image to provoke a different response than the real-life situation. Ethics are also questioned when looking at the image rights, do the people in the photograph have rights to the image royalties.

“Philip Jones-Griffiths' brutal and shocking documentation of the horrors of the Vietnam War that was crucial in changing public perceptions of the conflict”
“Griffiths created a compelling argument against the dehumanizing power of the modern war machine and American imperialism.” - Magnum Photos

Quang Ngai, Vietnam. Philip Jones Griffiths. 1967. © Magnum Photos

Philip Jones Griffiths-VIETNAM. Hue. Refugees flee across a damaged bridge. Marines intended to carry their counterattack from the southern side, right into the citadel of the city... using skin-diving equipment from the Marines. 1967. © Magnum Photos.

Philip Jones-Griffiths. Prisoners of war were afforded very different treatment by each side... captured Vietcong was to, raped, and killed... 1970. © Magnum Photos.

Philip Jones-Griffiths. The battle for Saigon. American G.I's often shown compassion toward the Vietcong...This VC had fought for three days with his intestines in a cooking bowl strapped to his stomach. Vietnam. 1968. © Magnum Photos.

The effect of these photographs being released was huge, changing the way many pictured war. Connotations of war hero's and bravery were taunted, with the many war crimes that occurred in Vietnam. Crimes not only against the Vietnamese people but the American soldiers fighting the war under false information by the government. The power of the photographer had truly been reached affecting how much information governments now give to the general public.

References;

Art and Politics Now. Anthony Downey.

Visual Impact, Creative dissent in the 21st century, Liz McQuiston.

Graphic Agitation 2

Philip Jones-Griffiths Magnum Photographer, more photographs and larger detailed captions available here >>>  https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/conflict/vietnam-inc/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/philip-jones-griffiths-photographer-whose-vietnam-images-changed-photojournalism-799333.html