James J. Gardiner is a documentary photographer whose work is concerned with social and political subject matter and how it engages and effects our world. Not afraid to utilise different and new methods of image making and research to compose his work, James is just as comfortable with traditional documentary making equipment, all the way from large format to a Leica. A strong sense of how humanity should be treated plays prevalence in James’ work, as he tries to shed light on events that are not at the forefront of the public’s consciousness.

'TOPOGRAPHIES OF A REMOTE COUNTERINSURGENCY'

In November 2008 when Rashid Rauf, a terrorism suspect from Birmingham, was reported to have been killed in a Drone strike, MPs demanded to know what the British government had known in advance of the strike. Patrick Mercer, Conservative MP for Newark, said the attack had "ultimately led to the execution of a British subject" and called for a statement from the government.

Western intelligence agencies are worried about European militant wannabes streaming into the Pakistan tribal belt. The difficulty of detecting such migrations is complicated for British authorities due to the size of the British-Pakistani population, which can help aspiring militants slip into Pakistan undetected. Due to the increase of militant activity, especially in the Northern Mountainous areas of Pakistan, the US have severely increased Drone strikes since 2008. This increase has ended up with more British Nationals falling victim to US Targeted Killings.

While the Foreign Office has said in the past that it was “looking into the reports” of the killings, so far none of these violent deaths have been investigated by UK authorities as they have a duty to do. At the very least a coroner inquest should be held to uncover the circumstances surrounding each killing.

Regardless of our enemy’s actions and beliefs, we cannot and should not deny them their humanity.