The book Pinky Promise is an investigation in which photography is just one of the many tools used to represent, as accurately as possible, a difficult subject: the sexual abuse of children. These stylistically diverse photographs—from classic black and white to more journalistic color—are accompanied by personal and medical reports which make this study an exhaustive document of a highly developed phenomenon in South Africa, the artist’s home country.
To try to understand the impact of sexual abuse from a psychological and sociopolitical perspective, Pierre Crocquet de Rosemond spent three years with five victims and three perpetrators. This prolonged contact and the sense of trust that the photographer was able to establish with these people allowed him to include in the book pages from their diaries, family photographs, letters, reflections and crumpled drawings saved from the trash. Pierre Crocquet de Rosemond focuses here on healing, which is often impossible. Scars, too, which mark souls the way the blur of certain photographs obscures their subjects’ faces.
Interviews with relatives and therapists complete the investigation. Without compassion or judgment, the artist imagines the possibility of a change. Its purpose is primarily educational, hence his plan to complement the paper publication with the release of a multimedia version in 2013.
Laurence Cornet
Pinky Promise
Photographs by Pierre Crocquet de Rosemond
Hatje Cantz / Fourthwall Books
280 pages
ISBN 978-3-7757-3173-7
