€35.00
Photos: Jan Banning
Texts: Dick Wittenberg, Marjan Slob
Publisher: Lecturis (Eindhoven, NL), 2025
ISBN 978-94-6226-551-6
160 pages, softcover, 160 mm x 240 mm
18 photographs + texts by Dick Wittenberg + essay by Marjan Slob.
Language: English and Dutch editions
Thirty years after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, unthinkable reconciliations have taken place: survivors have forgiven the murderers of their loved ones and, in many cases, even formed friendships with them.
In just 100 days, 800,000 people were killed—a daily toll higher than that of the Holocaust. Perpetrators were often neighbors, wielding machetes, hammers, and other crude weapons. After the genocide, survivors, bearing deep scars, and perpetrators, grappling with guilt, still had to live together in the same communities.
In 2005, NGO CBS Rwanda launched a program, bringing groups of 10-15 former adversaries together. To date, approximately 150,000 participants have taken part in these sessions, where former perpetrators often express remorse and ask for forgiveness. Many share accounts of their genocidal actions and disclose the locations of victims’ remains, allowing for proper burials.
In early 2024, award-winning Dutch photographer Jan Banning and acclaimed writer Dick Wittenberg spent a month photographing and interviewing pairs of former enemies who had reconciled, uncovering stories of both immense suffering and astonishing healing.
The Book
Their book, Blood Bonds: Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda, features 18 double portraits of survivors alongside the perpetrators who inflicted horrific harm on them or their loved ones—yet whom they found the strength to forgive. It will also share their stories and explore the profound significance of this extraordinary testament to humanity.
Additionally, Dutch former ‘Thinker Laureate’ (2023–25) Marjan Slob contributes a 3,000-word philosophical essay on the nature of forgiveness.
Awards for Blood Bonds:
* 2025 Shortlisted for the annual Lucie Photo Book Prize 2025 (Intersectional).
* 2025 Px3 Paris Photo Awards, Gold (category Press Feature Stories).
* 2025 LensCulture Portrait Awards, Series Winner, 2nd place.
* 2025 ZEKE Award for Systemic Change, First-Place.
* 2024 LensCulture Award, Critics’ Choice (Paolo Woods).
* 2024 International Photography Awards, ”Official Selection.”
* 2024 Aarize special award winner, 1st Place The Shape We’re In.
Exhibitions of Blood Bonds:
