Hugo's photos are of perpetrators posing side by side with the survivors of their crimes, documenting an almost unimaginable reconciliation. Hugo observes that "These people can't go anywhere else--they have to make peace. Forgiveness is not born out of some airy-fairy sense of benevolence. It's more of a survival instinct." In the words of one of the survivors, who poses with a man involved in the killing of her children, "Many among us had experienced the evils of war many times... in the end we realized that we are all Rwandans. The genocide was due to bad governance that set neighbors, brothers and sisters against one another. Now you accept and you forgive. The person you have forgiven becomes a good neighbor. One feels peaceful and thinks well of the future." Another survivor states, "I used to hate [the man who attacked her family]. When he came to my house and knelt down before me and asked for forgiveness, I was moved by his sincerity. Now, if I cry for help, he comes to rescue me. When I face any issue, I call him." The strength of these survivors is incredible and this series is astonishing and moving.
See also Jeremy Cowart's Voices of Reconciliation.
