Friso Keuris - Dutchbat III
It is exactly fifteen years since the end of the most controversial UN peacekeeping mission in which the Netherlands has ever been involved. The whole world remembers Srebrenica, where almost 8,000 muslim men were taken prisoner and murdered by Bosnian Serbs after they had left the protected enclave on foot in the hope of reaching Central Bosnia. It was one of the most disgraceful events in contemporary history and a deeply traumatic experience for the Dutchbat III peacekeepers personally involved. Photographer Friso Keuris (b. 1963) has produced a penetrating series of portraits of Dutchbat III veterans; on show at Gemak from 5 June, the large-format monochrome portraits are close-ups of the faces of men who have seen with their own eyes how war unleashes all that is worst in human nature.
Friso Keuris began photographing Dutchbat III personnel in 2006. The project was motivated by his interest in people who have witnessed the highs and lows of history with their own eyes. The portraits of Dutchbat III veterans give a face to the individuals who made up the subsequently much-discussed battalion that witnessed the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. Keuris wants to show that this anonymous unit was composed of a wide range of different people, each with his own story and motives; one man served on the mission to replace a friend with wedding plans, another was keen to help the people of Bosnia, and some saw the mission simply as a job to be done. But all of them found themselves in a nightmare situation that has left them with permanent psychological scars.
Feelings of powerlessness and frustration are a recurrent theme in their stories and many of the veterans now suffer from psychosomatic disorders. The Dutchbat veterans feel they were let down, both in Bosnia and back in the Netherlands. In their view, there was no way they could have intervened; they had no adequate weapons, there was no international air or land support and their hands were tied by their status as UN peacekeepers. Back in the Netherlands, fingers were pointed at them; they were treated as cowards rather than heroes and the press attacked them for their failure to act. Their personal experiences will be illustrated in the exhibition by a number of supporting texts, photographs taken by the soldiers themselves, and fragments of sound recordings.
Friso Keuris intends this exhibition and the accompanying book (which is to appear in the course of this year) to serve as a monument to the soldiers of Dutchbat III. Their powerlessness as a group and as individuals will be an important leitmotiv in both. Keuris feels it is his duty to portray these veterans because they constitute, both as human beings and as members of the military, a benchmark for the peacekeeping missions of today.
The exhibition will be opened by Ad van Liempt, journalist, former editor-in-chief of Nova and the brain behind historical TV programme Andere Tijden, in the presence of several Dutchbat veterans. A visit to the exhibition will also form part of the programme of the Netherlands’ national Veterans Day on Saturday 26 June.
Dutchbat III - Stephanie
