The Enemy is an original project intended to offer another look at war through immersion in the « opposing camp », often dehumanized. In times of war, the enemy simply does not have the same motivations, but remains a human being nonetheless.
The project The Enemy is the fruit of the imagination of Karim Ben Khelifa, a war photographer for fifteen years who has collaborated with major newspapers. The coverage of numerous armed conflicts around the world gave the interested party the idea of this humanistic experience in virtual reality.
A few questions preoccupied him when he was about to become a father: “So what use can images of war be if they don’t change people’s relationship to war, to the suffering it causes, to violence? What good are all these images if they don’t change opinions? What good are they if they do not create peace? »
The Enemy is then intended to give the floor « to those who carry violence within them, by allowing them to present themselves, to expose their motivations, their dreams, the project confronts the points of view of the combatants and humanizes them ». Thus, combatants and other victims of war can move within conflicts in order to confront their perception of the enemy. The Enemy facilitates various emotions: feeling empathy, understanding or even feeling human.
“The enemy is always invisible. When he begins to be visible, he ceases to be an enemy,” says the photographer.
Karim Ben Khelifa does not attempt through this project to find explanations for the war, but simply wants to provoke a dialogue between the different opposing camps. According to him, conflicts, regardless of which ones and when they took place, are the consequence of the incomprehension and dehumanization of the enemy. Looking for testers, the photographer wants to be sure that the experience is strong enough to be disseminated on a large scale.
Here is a small overview of the project The Enemy :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RmskvJ0mJY
Sources: Virtual-Reality – Digital