L'oeil de la Genève Internationale
December 2015

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention's conference (14MSP) took place in Geneva from 30 November to 4 December 2015. It insisted that States integrate the care and rehabilitation of landmine survivors into broader disability and human rights contexts, and that mine-affected States steady their efforts to achieve a mine-free world.

The documentary photographer Raphael Dallaporta signs this work of chilling beauty. The decontextualized "portraits" of 35 landmines and their typological captions are the subject of a book entitled Antipersonnel, Editions Xavier Barral and currently shown at the Foto-Forum Gallery, Bolzano.

The following caption accompanies this work: « Antipersonnel Bounding Fragmentation Mine, V-69, Italy. The V-69 can be set off by footfall pressure or through a tripwire. When detonated the fuse sets off propellant gases that fire the mine’s inner body 45cm above the ground. This explodes sending out more than 1,000 pieces of chopped steel. Between 1982 and 1985, its manufacturer Valsella sold around 9 million V-69s to Iraq. The mine was given a nickname by Iraqi minelayers: the “Broom”. 120mm, 3.2kg. »