Looking at history through a lens: alienation by camera obscura

On the back cover of our Heart of Darkness novel, there is a tiny paragraph crediting the cover illustration which was described as a: "photograph of ivory being purchased in the Congo, ca. 1890." I was interested in this specific image just based on the year itself and the relationship to photo documentation of imperial atrocities. After doing further web searches on the history of photography, I came across information on the "Kodak Era" which is officially dated 1878-1929. It was interesting to read that in 1889 (one year before the cover photo was taken) flexible roll film was beginning to become somewhat easily available. I also did a tiny bit of research on the many photos of imperial atrocities by just doing a general search of photos on the internet. There were many photos from assumed Japanese cameras in relation to the rape and massacre of Nanjing, China.

Returning to the topic of this cover picture, it seems as if there is a sort of disconnect between the men and ivory tusk in this picture in comparison to the actual history and exploitation of the natives, their land and of course the elephants. The photographs on the internet of severed heads, dead bodies and massive amounts of skulls create a sense of alienation for the "looker"/"viewer" of these photos simply because they were not there and it is just another black and white image on the internet. I can't help but think back to the theory of the "Atomic Sublime" where the image of the mushroom cloud creates a very distant and, in a sense, beautifully horrific picture. The "looker" only sees a far-away view of the mushroom shaped cloud to where in reality the ground level was experiencing tremendous chaos and death. Like the "Atomic Sublime" and the picture of the mushroom cloud, these pictures of imperial atrocities and even of historical genocide (e.g. the famous pictures of Auschwitz and the naked child in Vietnam) create a sense of alienation and non-responsive feelings from the "looker". Of course, it can be argued that these pictures document the evidence of pure injustices and slaughter of people which is proof that these events did in fact occur. And I wonder what means to be a "viewer" or "looker" of these pictures. How can we look at these photos without being or feeling alienated from these events? Is it even possible to not be alienated?