“Terres Perdues” – Official Opening of the Photo Exhibition by Jane Evelyn Atwood in Collaboration with Handicap International

Photo by Jane Evelyn Atwood for Handicap International.
District of Caia, province of Sofala, November 2001.

The photographs are displayed at Quai Wilson, Geneva, from 14 September to 29 October 2006. The exhibit was organized on the occasion of the Seventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty.

There are between 15,000 and 20,000 new victims of antipersonnel landmines each year. This photo exhibit bears witness to the devastation caused by landmines in five of the most affected countries and regions in the world: Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Kosovo and Mozambique. The photographer traveled across these countries to meet and photograph persons whose lives changed irreversibly the day they stepped on a mine, often many years after the conflict it was intended for had ended.

Jane Evelyn Atwood is one of the leading photographers of her generation. The photographs exhibited are part of a four-year study undertaken by the photographer, in collaboration with Handicap International. The photographs and text of the exhibit are also published in Ms. Atwood’s book Sentinelles de l’ombre (Editions du Seuil, Paris, 2004).

The opening of the exhibition was highlighted by a speech from Mr. Paul Vermeulen, Director of Handicap International Switzerland. Mr. Vermeulen’s speech expressed in words the message conveyed in images by the exhibition: antipersonnel landmines continue to devastate many parts of the world and all possible efforts must be made to achieve a mine-free world as soon as possible.