18 going about their mundane tasks from the back of an ‘ occupying force ’ s ’ jeep ’. It was in the
mundane though , that a feeling of sheer visceral hate directed towards Neville and his camera lens was captured , as the jeep he was in became emblematic , if not symbolic , of the violence ‘ the West ’ had caused the civilians in Afghanistan . The footage was highly disconcerting as , ‘ while some [ were ] warm in their reaction to my camera … others [ were ] clearly deeply uncomfortable , disturbed or angered … this piece show [ ed ] the gulf between myself as a war artist , hosted by an occupying force , and local people ravaged by poverty and war ’ ( The Guardian , 2018 ) 19 . Neville ’ s quote about his own piece of work presents a moving image which demonstrates varying attitudes prevalent at the marketplace , ranging from his own , to the people in which this ongoing conflict with Afghanistan has directly affected , arguably giving a more subjective account than what any singular still image could achieve . Moreover , in his own phraseology ‘ ravaged by poverty and war ’, this bestial quality spurred on by the word choice of ‘ ravaged ’ implied the absolute devastation the people of this conflict faced . By looking through Neville ’ s own perspective , he mobilised the proxemics between himself and the subject to deliver a 3 rd , even 4 th dimension to his work , highlighting perhaps the limitations of what a still image alone could present .
The film footage clearly divides those in the jeep , including Neville from the civilians , as it was the lack of interaction with each other that became so problematic . Neville ’ s own quote shows how in reality nothing can really be , as academic Mitchell contests , ‘ habitually called ‘ purely optical ’, exemplifying a purely visual use of the medium ’ 20 . As demonstrated by this case study , there is a necessity to run alongside or at the very least explain , the present emotions in the image before anyone has viewed it . Moreover , whilst the image possesses agency , the lack of detail surrounding it does little to add more to an understanding of this particular conflict . The image alone is not enough to satisfy the knowledge of what is going on in a selected circumstance . Nonetheless , with that said , in capturing the mundane , Neville captures an incredibly tense piece of footage : It is tense because it is silent , and the civilians return the gaze of the camera . Likewise , it stretches time by using slow-motion implying the long-haul suffering of the Afghani people at the hands of occupying forces . In reflection , the film has much more to impart to the audience than Neville ’ s comments alone , as it is what is implied in the moving image that the real agency of the film can be revealed . Although , questions cannot be dismissed
19
Ibid
20