An Attempt to Humanize Victims of the Nanjing Massacre

Arson, looting, murder, rape, torture, mutilation, live burial, and beheading were done to Chinese men, women, children, and infants. In six weeks in 1937, Japanese soldiers slaughtered between 200,000 and 300,000 citizens and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages in Nanjing to force China’s surrender in the war and break the spirit of the resistance. The Massacre of Nanjing, formally known as the Rape of Nanjing, is one of the most disgusting displays of humanity in history; however, it is a relatively unknown historical event. 

Body and Soul is a multimedia collage that takes images of the Nanjing Massacre and attempts to restore the humanity taken away from the victims. In particular, photographs taken of women who were sexually assaulted, mutilated, tortured, and murdered, have been altered to censor their bodies (but not the crimes committed against them) with abstract paintings as a means to restore their dignity. Photographs that do not expose victims have been altered with paintings that attempt to portray the horror attached to these events abstractly. 

These pieces are meant to honor and respect the victims in regard to how they would want these images to be seen. No images have been altered beyond recognition or obscured the victims present. The hope is that the Nanjing Massacre’s victims, survivors, and families feel respected and can use these pieces to mourn and commemorate this deeply troubling massacre.