UXO

UXO stands for “Unexploded Ordnance”. This photographic work seeks to testify to the danger that persists after the Vietnam War. 

I have first traveled to Cambodia and discovered many minefields. After doing some research I realized there are still many  land mines in the ground that injure and kill today, despite nearly 50 years since the Vietnam war and many civil wars. Upon returning to France I decided to do some more research and plan a project around these unexploded ordnances. I returned to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in 2018 in order to bear witness to the dangers that persist with UXO  with my means of communication, photography. 

I used an aesthetic and soft approach that voluntarily contrasts with the bitterness of the subject. this aethetization process creates a first level of reading and suggest the hidden part of unexploded ordnance, an invisible and threatening danger. 

There are still a lot of non-cleared areas as ​​demining is a slow and expensive process. But the funds are not big enough, or poorly solicited, to carry out an effective eradication. Yet mine clearance constitutes a real financial investment as the economic revival of the country depends on it. These unexploded shells, mainly located in rural areas, mutilate blindly the bodies of the inhabitants. In forgotten regions, the social integration of amputees is becoming a central issue. Landmines still explode, injure and kill today. The victims are mostly children, workers and farmers. 

I wanted to come during the rainy season because when the water rises in this area a lot of landmines and bombs are unearthed and displaced. This is why I have often photographed water, like a conductive thread in my project.