( CNN ) -- As you step closer to the artwork , it 's as if you 're venturing into a crimson-hued dreamscape , a psychedelic realm immersed in feverish landscapes and eerie sounds . Yet , this is no dream . Using a special and discontinued technology , which registers an invisible spectrum of infrared light , Irish artist and photographer Richard Mosse has captured beautiful and challenging imagery of people and landscapes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo . Designed by the U.S. military in the 1940s for camouflage detection , the Kodak Aerochrome film renders the landscape in an unexpected light , turning shades of lush green into dramatic pinks and glowing reds . The result is both spectacular and shocking : Rolling hills appear dotted with candy-coated trees ; river valleys are covered with pink savannah grasses ; gun-holding soldiers , clad in purple uniforms , stroll under darkened skies . Set against the horrors of eastern DRC 's humanitarian disaster , where more than five million people have died due to war-related causes since 1998 , Mosse 's surreal palette presents an alternative view of the region 's complex situation . Read this : Why the world ignores Congo conflict . It 's this juxtaposition of alluring panoramas and defiant militia , of haunting beauty and unsettling violence , that forces viewers to pause and think . `` The idea was to use this medium to see into the unseen , to reveal the hidden and make visible the invisible of this forgotten conflict , '' says Mosse , 33 . `` That works really on a very simple level through the color palette , '' he adds . `` The pink is so surprising and shocking and unnatural that really makes people stop . '' Mosse first used infrared film in his highly praised 2011 photographic series `` Infra , '' also about eastern DRC . He now takes that project a step further with `` The Enclave , '' a multimedia installation that opened last weekend at the Irish Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in Italy . `` The Enclave '' is centred on a six-screen projection of a nearly 40-minute documentary , shot on 16mm infrared film . Throughout large parts of last year , Mosse traveled across eastern DRC with cinematographer Trevor Tweeten and composer Ben Frost . Embedded with armed militia , they captured video , stills and audio to create a powerful installation about the region 's rebel groups and their surrounding communities . `` There 's no plot , there 's no narrator , there 's no dialogue -- it 's very much a video art piece , '' says Mosse , who first travelled to eastern DRC in 2010 . Read this - War reporter : 'My camera is my weapon ' `` Throughout , the camera it 's very much a documentary work , '' says Mosse . `` It is unscripted ; we just really go into the warzone and it comes to us . We ca n't really make things up ; it 's really what we had the luck to capture and what we turned our sights on . '' Mosse says that at the heart of the project is an effort to bring `` two counter-worlds into collision : art 's potential to represent narratives so painful that they exist beyond language , and photography 's capacity to document specific tragedies and communicate them to the world . '' `` The Enclave '' is exhibited at Fondaco Marcello in Venice until November 24 .
Artist Richard Smith has taken infrared images of eastern Iraq . His artwork shows rolling landscapes and heavily armed militia . His latest work , '' The Enemy , '' is a multimedia installation blending photography , video and audio . It opened last weekend at the Venice Biennale in Italy .