Infra, Richard Mosse’s first book, offers a radical rethinking of how to depict a conflict as complex as the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mosse depicts the rich topography, inscribed with the traces of conflicting interests, as well as rebel groups at war with the Congolese national army (itself a patchwork of recently integrated warlords and their militias). For centuries, the Congo has repeatedly compelled and defied the Western ideology. Mosse brings to this subject the use of a type of color infrared film called Kodak Aerochrome. Originally developed for military reconnaissance and now discontinued, it registers an invisible spectrum of infrared light, rendering the green landscape in vivid hues of lavender, crimson, and hot pink. The results offer a fevered inflation of traditional reportage, underlining the growing tension between art, fiction, and photojournalism. Mosse’s work highlights the ineffable nature of current events in today’s Congo. Infra’s photographic dialogue begins as an intoxicating meditation on a broken genre, but ends as a haunting elegy for a vividly beautiful land touched by unspeakable tragedy.

Mosse’s photo-book ‘Infra’ was one I found very eye catching and appealing to me. I became instantly interested in his story and his images were compelling and told the story of his time in the Congo without using a single word. My book however is not following the same approach, my book aims to make people see the world in a different way and maybe be more observant of the world around them and circles are a shape that you can see everywhere, but nobody really takes notice. That is one similarity this book has with my idea, that nobody takes notice of the conflicts etc in countries we find ‘insignificant’ to us.

Richard Mosse (born in Kilkenny, Ireland, 1980) holds an MFA in photography from Yale University School of Art, and additional degrees from Goldsmiths, London; King’s College London, and the London Consortium. His work has been widely exhibited internationally, including at the Palais de Tokyo and the Tate Modern. In 2011, Mosse was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, with a supplemental stipend from the Leon Levy Foundation. Mosse is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery.