Conflict Landscapes

This series follows the tradition of landscape depictions in Japanese woodcuts in the 18th and 19th centuries. The six large-format prints depict landscapes, some of which appear familiar at first glance – but the impression is deceptive. As the title Conflict Landscapes suggests, the idyllic mountain and river landscapes have another dimension. The series shows places where ores are mined that are needed in our society for the production of electrical appliances, especially computers and mobile phones. In many cases, the production and mining of these substances takes place illegally and outside of state control. Human rights violations are often accepted for the extraction of the disputed substances. The global extraction of cassiterite, coltan, gold and wolframite in particular takes place in conflict regions, which is why these raw materials are also referred to as conflict materials.

Areas where the control of these resources is a central element of power are mainly the eastern Congo (North Kivu, South Kivu) and the bordering countries Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. The Conflict Landscapes series shows views around Lake Kivu where conflict materials are mined. The templates for the woodcuts come from the digital world of the internet. They are printed in the spectrum CMY (without K), which is standard in digital print production, but were elaborately handmade and printed on Japanese paper according to ancient tradition. The graphics of the beautiful, seemingly untouched landscapes draw attention to our society's consumption of resources and thereby thematize the global interconnections and dependencies.