Photojournalism is powerful, but it cannot stop a genocide, says Ron Haviv, who has covered three – in Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur – and seen people executed, up close. Sometimes, when he sends shocking imagery out into the world and nothing changes, he’s felt as if he has failed. But, says Haviv, photos have ‘many lives’, and later it becomes apparent what photography can do, not only what it can’t. Haviv, who has documented over 25 wars and conflicts since the late 1980s, says that it’s about understanding limitations.
“Especially in the west, and especially as Americans, you think it’s everything or nothing. I felt that if the work had no impact, I couldn’t keep doing this. But then it starts to become a little more feasible… if we can…