A controversial war photography show closes Sunday at the Brooklyn Museum, after a three-month exhibit with stops in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. “War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath”features more than 480 photographs and other documents from wars dating back to 1887.
“In the news and magazines, people don't show us what’s really going on,” says Ann Wilkes Tucker, who curated the show with Will Michels. “We felt that if the soldiers have to see it and if the journalists have to see it, we have to see it.”
Reactions to the exhibition have been mostly positive, if disturbed. Phillip Kennicott at The Washington Post called the exhibition “wrenching and horrifying,” while Vince Aletti at The New Yorker found it “tough and unflinching.”
Some reviewers, however, objected to the overwhelming size and structure of the exhibit, which is jam-packed and arranged thematically, with images of World War II appearing next to images of Afghanistan or Rwanda. The effect, according to Ken Johnson of The New York Times, is “mind-numbing” and “flawed.”
One way or another, it's a powerful experience. With permission from the Brooklyn Museum, we are (again) publishing a selection of the photos.
Soldiers aboard the Australian transport ship Ajana head out for overseas destinations in 1916.
Ukrainian battalion commander Alexsei Yeremenko leads soldiers to attack in 1941, after the commander of his regiment was injured.
Russian soldiers charge forward on the Eastern Front in 1941.
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