The Disappeared I © Richard Ansett 2025
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 17th June – 17th Augus
‘The Disappeared’ is a large, high resolution still life photograph of a fragment of cloth with the names of prisoners illegally held and tortured by the Assad regime written in blood and rust, smuggled out of a Syrian jail by journalist and human rights activist Mansour al-Omari.
Ansett created this special edition as a response to Royal Academy Summer Show coodinator, Farshid Mousavi’s theme ‘Dialogues’. Her ambition, to bridge the disciplines of art, science and politics and showcase art that fosters conversations and sensitivity towards societal concerns.
Mansour al-Omari is a Syrian journalist and human rights activist who has contributed to the documentation of human rights violations in Syria. He was arrested on February 16, 2012 and became one of the tens of thousands known as ‘the disappeared’. He was regularly tortured during his detention and is one of the few survivors. When al-Omari was released on February 7, 2013, he had hidden on him lists of the names of his fellow prisoners copied on to small scraps of cloth, written with a mixture of blood and rust. He explains “It was my job, my task, to document the names”, to document what he directly witnessed, in order to be able to contact families of detainees to tell them where they were.
Ansett explains that he considers the work beyond its importance as a documentary record, the small cloth has been dramatically enlarged and shot on digital hi resolution so its physical nature can be examined. Ansett says “Photography’s most powerful ability is to hold time still, allowing us the space to consider the importance of its subject in new ways.”
Ansett’s interest is in photography as a conduit to assist others to tell their stories and as a Samaritan volunteer of 20 years, he feels photography can be a helpful tool for recognising a subject’s trauma – silently communicating care; not only in the capture but in the continued development of the image through to the exhibition stage, which he considers a starting point rather than a final destination. “Being heard is of great value to us all but particularly those who have a personal experience of the very worst of our humanity” he says. “This simple facsimile of a piece of cloth carriers with it embedded in every pixel and stitch, an attempt at empathy and an existential examination of the terror and suffering as part of the human experience but also hope represented by al-Omari’s determination at huge personal risk, to relieve the suffering of others.”
Ansett feels that the most shocking documentation of human degradation and suffering can often be ‘too much to bear’ for the audience and can result in a withdrawal rather than engagement. Ansett recognises the tradition of ‘the sublime’ in the communication of unbearable suffering especially to those of a new generation waking up to realities of the world for the first time. “Every new generation must once again negotiate the relationship to the beauty and horrors of humanity”. The beauty of this object itself belies the terror of its inception and reason for its existence. In focusing on the beauty of this single piece of fading evidence, Ansett recognises every stitch as being imbued with suffering but also hope in this synergy that concludes that humanity is both. Al-Omari explains that the pieces of cloth “carry the souls of those still missing or dead”.
“..we will continue to work until we reach the truth and justice” – Mansour al-Omari
