Soldados limpiando fuel del Prestige en la costa gallega, 2003

The uniformed choreographies of work or aid seduce with their musical discipline. When bodies are blurred in anonymous crowds, it is not necessary to dress them in black to shadow their identity, obscure as the dark bags of victims, and the motley confusion of presence is as liquid as the arabesque of absences on the lawn. There are no individuals in the group of Kandahar, as there are none amongst the translucent and interchangeable figures that visit Niagara falls, because in both cases silhouette and clothes replace identity. Of course, the protecting outfits of volunteers or firefighters help to define visually the collective character of determination, often underscored by helmets, visors or hoods, and sometimes composing such suggestive ballets as the white and black duet of tar: the dirty figures cut out against the boiling sea foam, and the clean overalls against the lumpy tar backdrop that covers the beach rocks. When this dance of hooded figures is captured at the same time by different photographers, we become aware that we stand before an orchestrated piece of news, and so the assault of the Serbian police commandos in search of Milosevic, a choral humanity persecuting crimes against humanity...[+]