Blood Bonds: Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda (Dutch: Bloedbanden: Verzoening na de genocide in Rwanda) by Dutch photographer Jan Banning was made across four Rwandan districts in early 2024 and portrays pairs linked by the 1994 genocide and its aftermath. The series comprises 18 double portraits selected from visits with 30 pairs arranged through Community Based Sociotherapy Rwanda.
The pairings examine how survivors, perpetrators, relatives, descendants, and community figures negotiate coexistence after violence enacted at close range within local relationships. Against continuing fear, trauma, stigma, and inherited shame, reconciliation appears as a gradual social practice rather than a settled condition. Rwanda's gacaca courts linked confession and apology to justice, while Mvura Nkuvure, or "heal me, I heal you," sociotherapy created community groups for truth-telling, remorse, practical aid, and renewed contact.
Banning frames the pairs frontally or near-frontally in homes, a local bar, and banana fields. The mood is formal, still, and tense rather than casual. Participants chose whether to stand, sit, touch, or keep their distance, while Banning limited his direction to minor adjustments. Posture, gaze, and proximity do not reveal each person's role as survivor, perpetrator, judge, or descendant.
The constructed lighting was central to this approach. Banning transported roughly 60 kilograms of equipment, including several lights and stands, and worked with a local assistant after testing lighting setups in his studio. He associated the resulting film-noir-inspired contrasts with moral ambiguity, while selecting each site for its space, openings, background, and incoming light. Touring exhibitions present the photographs at 100 × 75 centimeters on dibond without glass.
Published by Lecturis in 2025, the 160-page book combines Banning's photographs with Dick Wittenberg's participant histories and Marjan Slob's essay on forgiveness. Presentations began with Reckonings in Cambridge, Massachusetts, followed by Photo London, Photoville, Cortona On The Move, and Fotomuseum Hilversum. Recognition includes LensCulture's 2024 Critics' Choice, first place in the 2025 ZEKE Award for Systemic Change, second place in LensCulture's 2025 Portrait Awards, and 2025 PX3 Gold.
