Evidence

Evidence addresses the issue of crime and justice in war. It challenges us to view this particular crime as a rational, considered and planned process rather than as a series of random events. It dispels the argument that crimes were not committed in Kosovo. Evidence was photographed during the conflict in Kosovo between the NATO backed KLA and the Yugoslav armed forces during the spring and early summer of 1999. The photographs were made in Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. It was apparent from eyewitness testimony in Albania and Macedonia that there were charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity to be made against elements of the Yugoslav political and military establishment. When the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) published the "Indictment of Milosevic ET AL" during the conflict Gary Knight decided to use it as the central narrative for this story. "I approached the story as a curator of a crime, rather than as a journalist, photographing mass graves and scenes of crime and interpreting the charges of murder, persecution and deportation. I believe the universal language of photography renders the concept of war crimes less alien to those for whom the idea is normally abstract." Though the title may suggest a literal presentation of matters related to the current court proceedings in the Hague, in reality Evidence is purer and broader in its approach to documenting the events in Kosovo. It does not set out to be the definitive record of crimes committed in the province. Rather, it tests the meaning of 'evidence' in its most fundamental sense, forcing viewers to test their belief or disbelief in the face of images of what happened to the Kosovar people, both the living and dead.