In Reaching For Dawn, Elliott Verdier Poignantly Documents The People And Landscapes Of Post-War Liberia

Moving around the West African country, Verdier visited the fishing harbors of Harper, the diamond mines of Gbarpolu, and the Westpoint informal settlements, meeting people and hearing their stories, of which many do not communicate. “Of the bloody civil war (1989-2003) that decimated Liberia, its population does not speak. No proper memorial has been built, no day is dedicated to commemoration,” his statement reads. Over time, he got to know his subjects intimately and found they were trusting of him to share their experiences and to let him take their photographs. In parallel to these works, Verdier made sound recordings of men and women’s voices, be they victims or perpetrators, recounting the haunting things they went through.

Documenting the aftermath of war is no light-hearted experience, and his time in Liberia impacted him intensely. “It definitely was a tough year after finishing this work,” he tells us. “It still weighs quite a lot on my mind. My photographs are illusions of my reality which I try, with sincerity, to seek a universal truth.” We spoke to the photographer from his home in Paris about the heavy atmosphere of a trauma-filled land, meeting former child soldiers, and hoping for a more collective understanding of what happened.