Nestled awkwardly between two noticeboards on the fifth floor of the arts block is a framed photograph of a supposedly peaceful landscape. Rolling hills in unnatural shades of pink and purple deceive the viewer into believing the photograph is of a beautiful haven. In reality, the landscape is a site of major conflict between the Tutsi M23 Rebels and the Congolese Army, at Kimbube in Eastern Congo.

Straddling the border between photographic journalism and contemporary photography, “You Are Wherever Your Thoughts Are” forms part of Richard Mosse’s 2013 project The Enclave. Using a military-grade infrared film, Mosse spent two years depicting every aspect of life in the Congolese warzone via the mediums of video and photography.  It is the infrared film itself that suggests a narrative for these images, rendering all the green aspects of the landscape into hues of pink and crimson, subtly invoking the violence ingrained in the hills and fields of the Congo.

Mosse’s camera acts as a character in an incredibly complex and violent narrative, a narrative that is often completely alien to the western eye. Throughout the series, the lens stares at soldiers, refugees and civilians with accusation, sympathy or indifference. However, in scenes such as that depicted in “You Are Wherever Your Thoughts Are”, there exists a certain degree of hope – hope for a return to a long lost peace. Unlike the war-ravaged refugee camps, or the hardened appearances of the soldiers, the crimson jungles and purple mountains still retain vestiges of hope for a brighter future, despite the complex and violent past.