The line between activism and journalism breaks

 Via Neiman Labs

By Hafsa Maqsood

December 10, 2025

“When journalists around the world are being killed for practicing their freedom of press, journalists have no choice but to become activists.”

There is a growing frustration in the pit of the global journalism industry’s stomach. A frustration that comes from witnessing an entire year of devastating war in the Middle East, massive bloodshed, and ongoing conflicts across the globe where nothing seems to be working. A sickening frustration fed by the reeking hypocrisy of trying to “holding truth to power” in a post-truth world simultaneously bowing to power.

This frustration was born long ago in the stomachs of marginalized members of various diasporas, like myself, coming from histories of ancestral displacement and ravaging colonialism, and it is in part what has motivated them to join media and journalism industries only to be met with walls of supposed objectivity. An “impartiality” that leads to donning a hollow mask of white neutrality discordant with their lived realities.

That frustration will come to a breaking point in 2025 and translate into tearing down the line between activism and journalism that has already been breached, particularly since the 2020 rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

When democracies are in peril, when international laws meant to hold humanity accountable are being disregarded, when people charged with criminal offenses are leading governments, when journalists around the world are being killed for practicing their freedom of press, journalists have no choice but to become activists.

In 2025, journalists will no longer be told that coming in to work with a “Free Palestine” sticker on their laptops or water bottles is controversial and against guidelines while a “Stand With Ukraine” sticker is praised. Massive refugee and humanitarian displacements that occurred in 2024 will also impact news audiences. As journalists respond to audience demands, this shift will encourage a journalistic focus on human interest and global perspective stories that amplify refugee and diaspora narratives. Diaspora communities will play a crucial role in shaping these narratives through activism and storytelling that will bloom in the 2025 media and journalism industry.

When giving a lecture on media framing at the University of British Columbia in 2022, I held a roundtable attended by many members of Palestinian diaspora in Canada. Every one of them expressed turning away from legacy media in favor of citizen journalism and treating activists as sources for news. What if journalists with training and established platforms could tap into these audiences who are rejecting them in favor of unofficial news sources? What does this rejection mean for the decline of legacy media and journalistic ethics of “truth-telling?”

The answers to these questions, I predict, will come to fruition in 2025. We, as an industry, will have to reevaluate the meaning of “journalistic independence” if we want that sickening pit of frustration to heal. And the demands of a growing diaspora born out of conflict, war, and displacement will be one exceedingly difficult to ignore.

Hafsa Maqsood is a journalist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Calgary.

Review of new film about Lee Miller references Tony Vaccaro

 Via truthdig

September 29, 2024

A Photographer’s Legacy, Airbrushed

"It’s surprising that it took this long to give Lee Miller the Hollywood treatment. A former model and eventual frontline World War II photographer, with an eye that rivaled Robert Capa and Tony Vaccaro, she lived a haunted life following the publication of her revelatory Vogue magazine spread depicting the liberation of Dachau. “Lee” arrives in theaters this week as a reminder of both Miller’s work and the need to memorialize the details of genocide. Sadly, the movie does little more than gesture at both."

--full article

Oklahoma State University Museum of Art Exhibit “How We Rebuild” Includes Gallery Photographer Nina Berman

 Via Oklahoma State University Museum of Art

September 23, 2024

The Oklahoma State University Museum of Art presents “How We Rebuild,” opening Sept. 24, 2024. This selection of photographs examines the aftermath of conflict, focusing on what it takes to recover the heartbeat of humanity.

The exhibition draws from 12 years of work created by grant winners and finalists from The Aftermath Project, a nonprofit organization committed to telling the other half of war stories after the conflicts have ended — what it takes for individuals to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, and to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace.

Documentary photographer Sara Terry founded The Aftermath Project to impart the importance of “aftermath photography,” yearning for a society that doesn’t forget the people and places that conflict photography covers.

“The end of war does not mean peace. It is simply the end of death and destruction. Every story of war includes a chapter that almost always goes untold — the story of the aftermath, which day by day becomes a prologue of the future,” Terry said.

The photos selected for “How We Rebuild” center and reflect on the human stories and memories that define us. The assembly of images features moments of hope, agency and resilience.

“These photographs serve as a powerful reminder that rebuilding isn’t just physical — it’s emotional and communal, requiring empathy, patience, and shared understanding,” said Liz Roth, OSU Museum of Art interim director.

This exhibition invites audiences to engage with the visual narratives and reflect on the role of the photographs in helping communities heal. “How We Rebuild” is organized by ExhibitsUSA, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Artists included in the exhibition are Rodrigo Abd, Juan Arredond, Fatemeh Behboudi, Nina Berman, Pep Bonet, Andrea Bruce, Monika Bulaj, Kathryn Cook, Jeremy Dennis, Gwenn Dubourthoumieu, Michelle Frankfurter, Alessandro Gandolfi, Glenna Gordon, Ron Haviv, Jessica Hines, Olga Ingurazova, Andrew Lichtenstein, Luca Locatelli, Davide Monteleone, Saiful Huq Omi, Javad Parsa, Adam Patterson, Joseph Sywenkyj, Sara Terry and Donald Weber.

“How We Rebuild” is on view Sept. 24 through Dec. 20 at the OSU Museum of Art. Learn more at the website.

For more information about The Aftermath Project, visit theaftermathproject.org.

"The Flag Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning"

 Via Field of View

Original article posted on July 12, 2024

"Throughout history, flags have elevated the emotional impact of images, attracting photographers — and photo editors — like moths to a flame."   click to read full article

The article analyzes several photographs, including these by Gallery photographers:

Stanley Forman

The Soiling of Old Glory" Anti-Busing Protest, Boston, 1976

David Butow

January 6, 2021, Washington, DC. Supporters of President Trump battle law enforcement on the West steps of The Capitol during the attack on the day of Joe Biden’s election certification by Congress.

Joe Rosenthal/AP

Marines of the 28th Regiment of the 5th Division Raise the American Flag Atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, 1945

"Going down the rabbit hole of photos that are elevated, and in many defined, by flags...."

 

D-Day + 80: remembering Tony Vaccaro

 

Tony Vaccaro: Normandy, June, 1944

As a U.S. Army private, Tony Vaccaro's boat sailed for Normandy on D-Day+12 in June 1944, before landing, June 18. 

Just before leaving for France, while all the other soldiers were busy checking their gear, Tony secretly wrapped his Argus C3 camera in layers of plastic to keep it from the water and to hide it from his commanding officer. He photographed the Normandy coast through a buttonhole in his outer jacket.

Drafted into the war at the age of 21, he was denied access to the Signal Corps, but Tony was determined to photograph the war and had his portable 35mm Argus C-3 with him from the start. For the next 272 days, Tony fought on the front lines of the war, documenting his personal witness to the horrors of war.

The pictures – many of them raw, graphic, disturbing – follow his advance, and that of his unit, the 83rd Infantry Division, from the beaches to Berlin.

They represent one of the most complete collections of images of World War II, as seen through the eyes of someone who fought during the conflict. 

Read "D-Day through a lens: ‘First the rifle, then photographs’" on CNN

In 1994, the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Tony was awarded the French Legion of Honor, among many other awards and recognitions. The documentary film Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro premiered at the Boston Film Festival in 2016 and was distributed by HBO.  The film led to a career renaissance for Tony Vaccaro.

Tony Vaccaro, left, at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of D Day, June 7, 2014

Via US Department of State/Wikipedia

Tony Vaccaro passed away peacefully on December 28, 2022, eight days after celebrating his 100th birthday.

A new exhibition, "TONY VACCARO: The Pursuit of Beauty" opens at Monroe Gallery of Photography on July 5, 2024, and will be on view through September 15, 2024.

War Photography: Movie vs Reality

Via The Real Frame: War Photography on Screen - The Real Frame

May 21, 2024 by David Butow David Butow –

As if the political tension in the United States couldn’t get any higher, this spring a new movie depicting a full-scale, near-future civil war in the country is filling theaters and drawing good reviews. The film, “Civil War”, directed by Englishman Alex Garland, (“The Beach”, “Ex Machina”), imagines that the country is ruled by a quasi-dictator serving his third term as president. The opposing side is comprised of a well-organized and equipped army of rebels (called the “Western Alliance”), that is on the move to Washington, D.C. to remove him from power.

The main point of the movie is, I think, to force audiences to confront the possibility, however remote, that something like this could actually happen. The U.S., despite illusions of “exceptionalism,” is fundamentally no different from any other empire that can break down and/or break apart. This is big stuff, but the POV of this terrible scenario is told through the narrow experiences of a group of four journalists, principally two still photographers played by Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny.

It’s rare that photojournalists are the main protagonists in a film, they’re usually quirky side characters like Dennis Hopper’s idiosyncratic portrayal of a half-crazed Vietnam War photographer in “Apocalypse Now.” But putting them in the center of the plot requires detail of their working habits, and more importantly, into the emotional and ethical challenges they face as they make their way through one violent situation after another. The whole raison d’être of them being there is questioned. Are they after the thrill or some greater good? What is the role of journalistic observers in conflict? I can’t say those questions are deeply examined but they are certainly put up on the metaphorical blackboard (or video projector if you prefer).

If you haven’t seen the film but might go, be aware there is a lot of violence depicted, sometimes rather realistically and without the heavy music and other mood overlays we’re used to in Hollywood movies. I found this starkness jarring, but effective. Another thing I thought the film did rather well was show how quickly things can happen, often when you’re not expecting them, and also how chaos and semi-normalcy can exist in proximities much closer than you might expect.

Conversely, I thought there were some things about the journalists the filmmakers definitely got wrong, but how many movies have I seen where the main characters are lawyers, doctors, cops or soldiers? I imagine that people in those professions, who are used to being depicted on screen, don’t usually overanalyze every misleading detail. But the photojournalistic community, never shy about taking itself seriously, and with a rare spotlight on its profession, has had a lot to say about “Civil War.”

The best commentary I’ve seen is in the video here. It features a thoughtful interview with photojournalists Lynsey Addario, Peter van Agmatel, Ron Haviv and John Moore. These four have about as much experience covering conflicts as any photographers working today, and they are all highly intelligent and deeply reflective about those experiences. In addition, the photographer Mohamed El Masri, speaking with the assistance of a translator, describes the specific danger and challenges with covering the war in Gaza.

They’ll tell you what they thought of the movie, but more important, how they think about the role of the press, and what it is really like to witness, record and communicate terrible acts of violence.

New Project "The Missiles On Our Land" investigates the human and environmental risks of a new Air Force Nuclear Missile program

 

Nina Berman: 

"This is a project I’ve been working on the last year with colleagues at Princeton and Columbia about the US nuclear arsenal and our plans to spend nearly 2$ trillion building more weapons. It will be published as a package (video, podcast, print pieces) on Scientific American and on our website missilesonourland.org on Nov 14. Like most things that concern the US military, there has been almost no public engagement around these policies and so I hope you find it informative."

View the full project here

The Soldier in the Snow: A dark journey down the rabbit hole of war photos, blanketed in snow.

 

Via Patrick Witty, Field of View

Tony Vacarro

White Death, Pvt. Henry Irving Tannebaum Ottre, Belgium 1945

Private First Class Tony Vaccaro, carrying an M-1 rifle and an Argus C3 brick camera, photographed this scene January 11, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge. At first glance, it looks like a painting - spartan and stark, the composition as cold as the day.

“I saw the soldier that was lying down so peacefully, so beautiful as if an artist had drawn it.” Vaccaro recollected in the excellent 2016 documentary Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro. “Death, that is beautiful. It’s a contradiction. You want the ugliest aspect of mankind, death, to be beautiful. Otherwise it can not be a monument.”

Vaccaro died in 2022 at the age of 100. The photo, titled “White Death, Requiem for a Dead Soldier,” was published alongside Vaccaro’s obit in The New York Times.

Full article here

War-scarred land: Nina Berman and Ashley Gilbertson featured in award-winning book depicting collateral damage of U.S. military at home

Via The Harvard Gazette

In her recent book and accompanying exhibition, “Devour the Land” — honored at the 2022 PhotoBook Awards — curator Makeda Best considers how photographers have responded to the U.S. military’s impact on the environment since the 1970s.

Below, the Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Harvard Art Museums walks us through a few of the images she selected. (Full post here)

A Housing Development Bordering the Starmet Superfund Site, Concord, Mass., USA” (July 3, 2016) by Nina Berman, American (b. New York, N.Y. 1960). © Nina Berman; image courtesy of Nina Berman

Just outside Walden Pond, a toxic dump

Nina Berman’s photograph was made in nearby Concord. Made at sites across the country, Berman’s series “Acknowledgment of Danger” takes its title from a waiver visitors must sign before entering the toxic grounds of a former military facility. In Concord, she photographed a new housing development in early morning light. Concord is known for its connections to the Revolutionary War and to the U.S. environmental movement. (The pictured site is six miles from Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau’s 19th-century nature writing.) Here, Berman draws out this site’s link to modern warfare: Starmet Corp. (formerly Nuclear Metals Inc.) manufactured products from depleted uranium, primarily for armor-piercing ammunition, among other things. The company discharged toxic waste into an unlined holding basin for nearly 30 years, contaminating the soil and groundwater. In 2001, the facility was placed on the National Priorities List, an EPA registry of the nation’s most hazardous sites.

 “A Resident Talks to Workers in the Hunter’s Point Neighborhood of San Francisco, Calif., on May 5, 2017.” From the series “Bombs in Our Backyard” by Ashley Gilbertson, Australian (b. Melbourne 1978). © Ashley Gilbertson/VII; image courtesy of the artist

Story of environmental racism

It was important to me that the exhibition speak to the fact that communities of color are disproportionately impacted by this pollution and toxicity. Ashley Gilbertson made this photograph in a neighborhood in my hometown of San Francisco, called Hunter’s Point. The neighborhood was largely built on a former naval base, today a Superfund site. Growing up, I knew kids who lived here — heard them talk about their eczema and asthma. In 2017-18, Gilbertson, a contributor to the catalog, acclaimed for his photographs of conflict in the Middle East, turned his attention to the U.S., documenting pollution caused by the military for the investigative journalism nonprofit ProPublica. Gilbertson collaborated with journalist Abrahm Lustgarten (another contributor to the catalog) to produce a series of in-depth reports on the pollution from former chemical weapons test sites and the harmful ways the military has chosen to dispose of chemicals and munitions. In his larger series, Gilbertson shows how people and toxins intersect — from illness to activism to labor and daily life in a poisonous environment.

 

*

Imagine a world without photojournalism exhibit Opens, Marks Monroe Gallery's 20th anniversary in Santa Fe

 Via Art Daily

July 2, 2022

David Butow, March 15, 2022. Two of the millions of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, this woman and her son leave for Poland and a completely unpredictable future. © David Butow. Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography.

SANTA FE, NM.- Monroe Gallery of Photography opened a major exhibition celebrating the Gallery’s 20th anniversary in Santa Fe. “Imagine a World Without Photojournalism” is a multi-photojournalist presentation of news events of the 20th and 21st Centuries. The exhibition will continue through September 18, 2022.

A special program with gallery photojournalists Nina Berman and David Butow will be held on Friday, July 22 at 5:30 PM, RSVP required, please contact the Gallery for information.

Imagine a world without photojournalism

Across America and throughout the world, photojournalists working to bring the world vital news have come under attack, often from authorities, governments, and groups using violence and repression as a form of censorship. Combined with deliberate misinformation creating public skepticism, the photojournalist’s mission of creating visual moments essential to understanding societal and political change may be threatened.

For 20 years, Monroe Gallery of Photography has presented exhibitions championing the critical work of photojournalists.

Photojournalism’s work and mission—one that can be put simply as documenting a news event through the medium of photographic images, has arguably become the most essential and enduring news messaging tool, and one that has gained only further traction and relevance in the 21st century.

On the occasion of Monroe Gallery of Photography’s 20th anniversary in Santa Fe, the gallery presents an exhibition of photojournalists that they have exhibited throughout the years which span almost 100 years of history.

Photographs in the exhibition cover 20th- and 21st- century societal and political change, from the battles of World War II to the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s, from the frenzy of Presidential campaigns to the January 6 Insurrection on the United States Capitol. The exhibit includes a photograph from the 2019 Charlotte, North Carolina Gay Pride parade that the Gaston County manager ordered removed from a Gaston County museum exhibit on June 15, 2022.

Photographs in this exhibition are universally relevant; they reflect the past, the present, and the changing times. These unforgettable images are imbedded in our collective consciousness; they form a sort of shared visual heritage for the human race, a treasury of significant memories. Many of the photographs featured in this exhibition not only moved the public at the time of their publication, and continue to have an impact today, but set social and political changes in motion, transforming the way we live and think.

NINA BERMAN

Nina Berman is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, author and educator. Her wide-ranging work looks at American politics, militarism, post violence trauma and resistance. Her photographs and videos have been exhibited at more than 100 venues from the security walls of the Za'atari refugee camp to the Whitney Museum of American Art. She is the author of Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq, (2004) portraits and interviews with wounded American veterans, Homeland, (2008) an examination of the militarization of American life post September 11, and, An autobiography of Miss Wish (2017) a story told with a survivor of sexual violence which was shortlisted for both the Aperture and Arles book prizes. Additional fellowships, awards and grants include: the New York Foundation for the Arts, the World Press Photo Foundation, Pictures of the Year International, the Open Society Foundation, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the Aftermath Project. She is a Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she directs the photography program. She lives in her hometown of New York City.

DAVID BUTOW

David Butow is a freelance photojournalist whose projects and assignments have taken him to over two dozen countries including Afghanistan, Burma, Iraq, Peru, Yemen and Zimbabwe. His new book, BRINK, chronicles politics in the United States from the 2016 presidential election through the chaos of the Trump presidency, the turmoil of 2020 and concludes with the insurrection and its aftermath at the U.S, Capitol in January 2021.

Born in New York and raised in Dallas, he has a degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin. After college he moved to Los Angeles and worked in newspapers before beginning a freelance career for magazines in the 1990's. From the mid-90's through the late-2000's he worked as a contract photographer for US News and World Report magazine covering social issues and news events such as post- 9/11 in New York, the Palestinian/Israeli Intifada, the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the 2019 Hong Kong protests, the funeral of Nelson Mandela, and the death of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

Most recently, his photographs from Ukraine and Ulvalde, Texas have been published in Politico, Time, and The New York Times

David's photographs have been shown in numerous exhibitions including the Asia Society NY, the United Nations NY and Visa Pour l'Image in Perpignan, France. They have also appeared in books and magazines worldwide.

Reflections of the L.A. uprising: Revisiting the photographs with David Butow

 Via The Los Angeles Times

April 26, 2022

Welcome to Los Angeles in the last few days of April 1992.

"David Butow witnessed many historical events through the lens of his camera as a freelance photojournalist, including the 1992 uprisings in L.A., the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. Most recently, he was in Ukraine shooting photographs of the war."

David Butow recalls taking photos of burning rubble just a couple blocks from his L.A. apartment in 1992.  (View these historical images overlaid on present-day 360º video in this immersive piece, and hear from the photographers themselves. Scan the QR codes using Snapchat on your smartphone to walk through an augmented reality doorway to examine the space around you.)

Nina Berman Photographs "Fleeing the War, a Ukrainian Comes to Brooklyn" for the New Yorker

 Via The New Yorker

March 31, 2022

Fleeing the War, a Ukrainian Comes to Brooklyn

As a wave of refugees begins to land in the U.S., one woman follows an unlikely path to safety.

Photographs by Nina Berman

David Butow: From Ukraine

 Via Design Arts Daily

March 31, 2022

"March 15, 2022. Two of the millions of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, this woman and her son leave for Poland and a completely unpredictable future. Lviv is one of the funnel points for people trying to get out of the country. I just finished several days photographing these refugees, tracing their steps to the border and beyond.

The escape from Ukraine has become increasingly desperate. More than 2.6 million people have fled the country as Russian troops move closer to major metro areas, shelling civilian infrastructure at random and forcing people to find last-minute transportation to take them to safety.

Train stations are constantly crowded. Aid groups are meeting civilians with food, water and donated clothes. Polish families are taking in Ukrainian refugees, offering up their homes as temporary shelters. The U.S. so far has donated over $100M to help Ukrainians by providing safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene supplies as well as surgical kit"s. --David Butow

Photographer David Butow, a longtime subscriber and contributor to DART, arrived in Ukraine the second week of March to cover the effects of war on ordinary people who were caught in the indiscriminate shelling of cities like Lviv and Chernevo. He covered the growing humanitarian crisis amid the escalating attacks, with people seeking shelter in makeshift camps in Poland, Moldova and Romania. David departed earlier this week through Poland; following are some of his photos and reportage for @politico (click for full article)

David Butow in Ukraine for POLITICO

 

In January, we were honored to host photojournalist David Butow for an exhibition and discussion about his new book "Brink".

He is now covering the massive humanitarian crisis inside Ukraine and along its borders. POLITICO recently featured his photographs in the essay "On the ground in Ukraine, in photos: Millions flee their homes amid intensifying Russian attacks." Click to view.

" “Devour the Land” is one of the most depressing exhibitions I’ve seen. But my first thought coming out of it was: I want to see more shows like this"

 Via The Washington Post

October 26, 2020

The show is called “Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography since 1970.” It’s at Harvard Art Museums, it was put together by curator Makeda Best, and it’s about how photographers have fought to expose the hidden effects of the U.S. military and its associated industries on America’s environment and the health of its population. More broadly, it’s about inequality and justice.

" Should museums mount exhibitions with a moral agenda? Absolutely. If they do it well....I’ve just seen a major exhibition that I think delivers on exactly the kind of thing they had in mind.

And, guess what? It’s brilliant. "

Gallery photographers Nina Berman and Ashley Gilbertson are included in this exhibition.

A Nation of Neglect: 'Devour The Land' Special Exhibition

 

Via The Harvard Crimson

By Ebubechi J. Nwaubani, Contributing Writer

October 19, 2021

On Sept. 17, The Harvard Art Museum opened its doors to the new “Devour the Land” photography exhibition. The showing is divided into three rooms and travels through the ramifications of nuclear war, environmental poisoning, and urbanization in six parts titled: “Arming America” Part 1 and Part 2, “Slow Violence,” “Regeneration,” “Other Battlefields,” and “Resistance.”

According to curator Makeda Best, “Devour the Land” originates from General William Tecumseh Sherman’s description of a devastated and desolate land following the Union Army’s “scorched earth” policy during the Civil War. Images captured by photographer George Barnard, who accompanied General Sherman on this campaign, depicted “destruction with a certain beauty,” according to Best. This tragic beauty is a thread throughout the three rooms — and a sentiment shared by attendees.

“It’s quite deep, and unfortunately, sad, but there’s also a beauty,” said security guard Patricia A. Daly while standing in front of a series of photos by influential photographer Richard Misrach. In the center of a sun bleached landscape stands a yellow school bus ravaged by nuclear weapons and rot; the photograph is labeled “School Bus Target.”

Disparities within the artwork scenes were picked up by other onlookers as well. Visitor Michael E. Halwes said “The pieces that have really contrasted the war on terror aspects of the Gulf War were pretty compelling and then also the ones where you get a good juxtaposition of the industrial masking [of] the audience's view of the nature behind it.”

This contrast is most prominent in Frederica Armstrong’s photo series “In Plain Site.” Armstrong captures suburban areas of Silicon Valley in her series, areas which have an aura of the mundane: and parking lot, a street corner at sunset. Below each image is the corresponding EPA classification number that identifies it as a superfund site. “The National Priorities List creates lists of sites that are so toxic as to need a superfund [which is] a fusion of federal dollars to clean up and kind of get it under control,” says Best, waving finger quotations in the air around the words “clean up.” Below two images read “Site ready for use: No.”

In a glass box in the center of one of the rooms of the exhibit lies a card titled “Nuclear Mail” with the date August, 1982 in the top left corner. The card reads: “WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Postal Service officials revealed plans to assure mail delivery in the event of nuclear war. … Should Washington D.C. be destroyed, the national postal service will be run from Memphis, Tenn. If Memphis is also devastated, San Bruno Calif. will take over.” Best touches on these effects, saying that “the military is the number one polluter in the country.” Best spoke to the exhaustion of resources done by the scorched earth policy. “We’re still doing that, we’re using up our land, but we’re only poisoning ourselves. We’re only destroying ourselves this time.”

The exhibit stands out from most atomic photography presentations in that it addresses the long term effects of this war on land. Best credits “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor” by Rob Nixon as her inspiration for the third section of the exhibit “Slow Violence.” Best says the book makes “recognition of violence as attritional versus spectacular.” A series of photographs depict an area in Louisiana known as Cancer Alley, which has one of the largest concentrations of petrochemical plants and refineries in the nation. Most citizens of the area are descendants of slaves. Best addresses the question of geographical racism thoroughly throughout the exhibit. One frame depicts the bright lights of a penitentiary — whose prisoners are disproportionately black — against a pitch black sky. In response, Best says “Many prisons in the country are superfund sites, so what does that mean?”

This exhibition, as much great art does, asks the question: “What’s next?” Attendee Micheal E. Hawles admits that he feels pessimism about the future but says, “People have a responsibility to bear witness to what’s going on in the world around them. … There’s always the chance that someone is going to be exposed to new information and I think it's just about the constant drumming of building public sentiment against these sorts of practices that, ideally, get reflected in policy changes.”

Attendee Ashley M. Kelley was also emotionally impacted by the exhibit. “It's important to take note, [that] even though you aren’t able to see what’s around you, and if you’re privileged enough, know that this is still going on and health hazards have large effects on families and generations,” says Kelley.

It’s clear that the issue of nuclear warfare is not a linear one, but one with many starting points and stories that run parallel to each other throughout history. This exhibition stands as a testament to these parallel stories and, hopefully, points towards an end to such damaging practices.

Monroe Gallery photographers Nina Berman and Ashley Gilbertson are contributors to this exhibition.

Tony Vaccaro, who photographed World War II in Europe describes 6 of his photos that reveal the 'insanity of war'

 Via Business Insider

Memorial Day, May 31, 2021

A dead GI in Germany's Hurtgen Forest in 1944. 

Tony Vaccaro/Tony Vaccaro Studio

Michelantonio "Tony" Vaccaro wanted to serve his country with a camera during World War II, so he tried to join the US Army Signal Corps. But under Uncle Sam's rules, the 20-year-old draftee was too young for that branch.

So Vaccaro, the orphaned son of Italian immigrants, became a private first class in the 83rd Infantry Division. By June 1944, days after the first wave of 156,000 Allied troops descended on the beaches of Normandy, Vaccaro landed on Omaha Beach, where he saw row after row of dead soldiers in the sand.

Vaccaro was armed with an M1 rifle. He also brought along his personal camera: A relatively compact Argus C3 he'd purchased secondhand for $47.50 and had become fond of using as a high-school student in New York.

In addition to fighting on the front lines during the Battle of Normandy and the ensuing Allied advance, Vaccaro photographed what he was seeing. At night, he'd develop rolls of film, mixing chemicals in helmets borrowed from fellow soldiers. He'd hang the wet negatives on tree branches to dry and then carry them with him.

When he had enough to fill a package, he'd generally mail them home to his sisters in the US for safekeeping and to ensure the images would survive even if he did not.

                                Then-GI Tony Vaccaro on the wing of a B-17 Bomber in 1944. 

Tony Vaccaro/Tony Vaccaro Studio

From 1944 to 1945, he moved through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany.

Along the way, he took photographs that few others — even the press and Signal Corps photographers — were in a position to take: a fellow soldier's last step before shrapnel tore through him, a jubilant kiss between a GI and a young French girl in a newly liberated town, and many stomach-churning portraits of ransacked corpses that still haunt him.

During 272 days at war, he captured thousands of photos. After the Allied victory, he felt sickened and debilitated by the devastation he saw. He wasn't ready to return to the US. And he never wanted to photograph armed conflict again.

He bought a Jeep and traveled with his camera, eventually photographing brighter moments, like the reconstruction of Europe and the beauty in the lives of famous artists and everyday people.

Vaccaro went on to make a name as a fashion and culture photographer. He traveled the world shooting for magazines like Look and Life and taking portraits of bigwigs including John F. Kennedy, Pablo Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Georgia O'Keeffe, and many more.

A half-century would pass before Vaccaro began publishing the bulk of his surviving wartime photos. The surviving images have been shared widely, including in the 2016 HBO documentary "Underfire: The Untold Story of PFC. Tony Vaccaro," in which Vaccaro revisits the history that he had to break Army rules to chronicle.

Tony Vaccaro. Manolo Salas/courtesy of Tony Vaccaro Studio

Vaccaro, now 98, survived a bout with COVID-19 last spring that put him in the hospital.

He continues roaming his neighborhood photographing everyday people and selling prints through Monroe Gallery of Photography. From his Queens, New York, studio more than seven decades after World War II, he closes his eyes and thinks of the brutality he documented as an infantryman.

"I see death," Vaccaro told Insider. "Death that should not happen."

Below, he describes six of his photos that he says capture "the insanity of war."

'White Death', Near Ottré, Belgium, January 1945.

Tony Vaccaro/Tony Vaccaro Studio

Vaccaro developed the roll containing this image while on leave in 1945. He remembers calling this photograph "Death In The Snow" at first, later deciding that "White Death" was a more "elegant" and fitting name to honor Pvt. Henry Tannenbaum's service and sacrifice. Tannenbaum was killed in action on January 11, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge.

"When I first took this photo of a GI dead in the snow, I was not aware of who he was. What I did was to chip the snow away and look for his right arm, because in those days, [on] the right arm we carried our dog tags. He was Pvt. Henry Irving Tannenbaum. He was one of the soldiers who fought there, just like me. We fought in the snow. He died in the snow. He was my friend. I knew he had a son. … Many years later I got a call from his son."

'Gott Mit Uns', Hürtgen Forest, Germany, 1944

The burned body of a German tank driver, as seen through Vaccaro's lens.

Tony Vaccaro/Tony Vaccaro Studio

.

"He's burning. This was frontline. You can smell him. We knocked out his German tank. We knocked it out, and he jumped out of there and fell dead in front of us. He was the pilot of this tank. Similar age [to me]. Here he's gone. … But [before the photograph] I heard him scream, 'Muter, muter.' He was calling for his mother."

"I took cover [by lying down next to him] and read his belt buckle: 'Gott mit uns.' … It means 'God is with us.' [Before the war] I had seen people that die and go to the church, and from church they go to the cemetery, like my father when I was four. This was a different death."

'Final Steps of Jack Rose', Ottré, Belgium, January 11, 1945.

Tony Vaccaro/Tony Vaccaro Studio

Vaccaro captured this image of a soldier he identifies as US Army Pvt. 1st Class Jack Rose of the 83rd Infantry Division, still upright, just after shrapnel from a mortar explosion severed his spine. The explosion, visible between Rose and the fence, threw Vaccaro back many feet. Rose, 23, was killed in action.

"That was Jack Rose. The last step. I was photographing him when this shell comes and explodes. He got killed there, in the village. … The shell could have come to me, too. I was lucky."

'Rhineland Battle', Near Walternienburg, Germany, April 1945.

Tony Vaccaro/Tony Vaccaro Studio

Vaccaro says the streaking on some of his war photos comes from the grueling conditions he was in — he didn't have time to properly process and store his work in combat — and possibly from water damage due to a flood in the office where the images were stored after the war.

"We were going forward when a shell comes in, in the back, and explodes. This was Rhineland Battle. I was in a hole as the mortar exploded. I raised my arm up with the camera in my hand above the hole to catch this picture. If that shell had come 20 yards over, I was with these two [soldiers seen in the picture], and my hole was here, and if the shell came [where the two soldiers were or where Vaccaro was], I wouldn't be here talking today."

The Family Back Home', Hürtgen Forest, Germany, January 1945.

Tony Vaccaro/Tony Vaccaro Studio

When Vaccaro encountered this dead German soldier, it appeared that other American soldiers had already looted his valuables.

"This is a man who we killed in frontline [fighting]. … That was it. The family back home. A dead German soldier with the pictures he was carrying of his family. … Of course I had photos of my family too. … It reminds me of the tragedy of mankind. He's not a German. He's a human being."

"We just must stop using 'I'm Italian. I'm French. I'm Spanish. I'm German.' That's what makes us enemies of each other. We're all humans. In Spain. In Germany. It's a terrible mistake that man has made. We are humans. And nothing else."

'Defeated Soldier', Frankfurt, Germany, March 1947.

Tony Vaccaro/Tony Vaccaro Studio

Vaccaro captured this image after the war, while photographing the reconstruction of Europe for Stars.

"This man came back [from being a prisoner of war in the US]. He's crying. … He gave up. You see where his family had been. The war is over. He came back, and his house had been destroyed. That's why I call this the defeated soldier. He was German. … Later I was told that he lived here."

"The point is, you see, on this Earth there is only one species, one church. Unfortunately we take this one species and create hundreds and thousands of churches, and each one is different from the next. And that's why man is not attaining peace yet."

View the Tiny Vaccaro collection here

Watch the video "Tony Vaccaro at 98" here 

Ashley Gilbertson: 'I am here today because another man died'

 

Via BBC

 

 Iraq War: 'I am here today because another man died'

At the start of the Iraq War in 2003, over 600 journalists and photographers are given permission by the US government to follow the conflict as embedded reporters.

Photographer Ashley Gilbertson is working for The New York Times when he enters the city of Fallujah with a US marine battalion.

Fallujah, 40 miles outside Baghdad, would be the deadliest battle the marines would fight since the Vietnam War.

Just over a week after entering the city, a small group of them is ordered to escort Ashley on a recce of a local minaret - what happens next will change their lives forever.

Tony Vaccaro on VE Day - 'We Just Did Our Bit:' WWII Vets Recall War 75 Years Later

Photo by Maria Vaccaro

Via the New York Times
May 8, 2020

LONDON — Seventy-five years after World War II ended in Europe,
The Associated Press spoke to veterans who endured mortal danger,
oppression and fear. As they mark Victory in Europe Day on
 Friday, they also are dealing with loneliness brought on by the
coronavirus pandemic. Here is some of their testimony.

SURVIVING NORMANDY AND COVID-19

Tony Vaccaro is one of the few people alive who can claim to
 have survived the Battle of Normandy and COVID-19.

He was dealt a bad hand early, as his mother died during
childbirth a few years before tuberculosis claimed his father.
 By age 5, he was an orphan in Italy, enduring beatings from
an uncle. By World War II he was an American G.I.

Now, at age 97, he is recovering from COVID-19. He attributes
his longevity to “blind luck, red wine” and determination.

To me, the greatest thing that you can do is challenge the world,”
 he said. “And most of these challenges I win. That’s what keeps
me going.”

Vaccaro’s grit carried him into a lifetime of photography that
began as a combat infantryman when he stowed a camera and
captured close to 8,000 photographs.

One of his famous images,
“Kiss of Liberation,” showed a U.S. sergeant kissing a French 
girl at the end of Nazi occupation.

Vaccaro documented the reconstruction of Europe and
returned to the U.S. where he worked for magazines
such as Look and Life and has fond memories of
photographing celebrities including Sophia Loren, J
ohn. F. Kennedy, Georgia O’Keefe and Pablo Picasso.

Vaccaro lives in Queens, the New York City borough ravaged
by the coronavirus, and next to his family.

He might have caught the virus in April from his son or in
their neighborhood, his daughter-in-law Maria said. He was in
the hospital two days and spent another week recovering.

“That was it,” she said. “He’s walking around like nothing happened.”

Texas Book Festival panel discussion of "Eddie Adams: Bigger than the Frame"

The Briscoe Center invites you to a Texas Book Festival panel discussion of:

"Eddie Adams: Bigger than the Frame"
A Co-publication of the Briscoe Center and the University of Texas Press

Sunday, November 5, 2017
12:00 p.m.–12:45 p.m.

Moderator: Don Carleton
Panelists: Alyssa Adams and Anne Wilkes Tucker
Location: The Contemporary Austin–Jones Center
...
Drawn from the Briscoe Center's Eddie Adams Photographic Archive, "Bigger Than the Frame" presents a career-spanning selection of a renowned photographer's finest work. In addtion to Adams's much-praised Vietnam War photography, the book includes images that uncannily reflect the world and domestic issues of today, including immigration, conflict in the Middle East, and the refugee crisis. They attest to Adams's overwhelming desire to empathize with others and tell their stories–as he once observed, "I actually become the person I am taking a picture of. If you are starving, I am starving, too." Best known for Saigon Execution, his Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph that forever shaped how the world views the horrors of war, Adams won more than five hundred awards, including the George Polk Award for News Photography three times and the Robert Capa Gold Medal.

Books will be available for purchase at the event.

The Jones Center is located at Seventh Street and Congress Avenue. Street and garage parking are available nearby.

Eddie Adams' fine art prints are available from the Monroe Gallery of Photography.