SOUTH AFRICA
The New York Times
By MATT MCCANN
At a book signing in Cape Town, the photographer Pierre Crocquet was writing his name in copies of his book “Pinky Promise” when he thought he recognized someone in the crowd. Was that James just now, one of the subjects — a perpetrator — who participated in the making of this book, a documentary project on child sexual abuse?
Or was it Mr. Crocquet’s imagination? Either seemed plausible; James had had a career in military intelligence during the decades of apartheid and used those techniques, and disguises, to abuse children undetected. An air of paranoia hung over him — perhaps it had seeped into Mr. Crocquet’s psyche as well, and his mind was playing tricks. After all, Mr. Crocquet had spent a lot of time with James, getting to know him over the course of the project, which had been three years in the making.
“Pinky Promise,” the first edition of which was published by Fourthwall Books last year, is an unusual view of child sexual abuse. It presents the stories of eight people, three abusers and five who were abused. The subjects tell their own stories, and occasionally we hear from family members or therapists. Its materials aren’t only photographic and documentary — besides the personal testimonies, there are also scraps from journals, drawings, family photos and report cards, creating a kaleidoscopic presentation of the effects of a transformative, and sometimes defining, trauma.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.