Jaar’s poignant work, Six Seconds, deals evocatively
with the aftermath and emotional turmoil of genocide.
The young girl in the photograph had lost her entire
family in the mass killings in Rwanda in the mid 1990s.
Unable to speak, she simply walked away when Jaar tried
to approach her. The shot is blurry due to her moving
away from the artist. Six seconds is how long Jaar’s
encounter with her lasted. In previous discussions Jaar
has noted the impossibility of accurately representing
another’s life. The story or image that an artist tries to
convey is always “out of focus”.