Anja Niedringhaus, An Afghan boy holds a toy gun as he enjoys a ride with others on a merry-go-round to celebrate the end of Ramadan, Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2009. © picture alliance / AP Images
This powerful and thought-provoking exhibition at the Fotomuseum in Winterthur runs until 30 August 2020. It shows the work of eight female photojournalists and documentary photographers. Their pictures give us an insight into the complexities of war.
The exhibition covers conflicts from the Spanish Civil War to World War Two to more recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. The photos were shot between 1936 and 2011 by women.
There are many challenges facing a female photographer in a war zone. It is typically a male dominated environment but being a woman can give you unique access to situations where men would struggle e.g. particularly into the lives of families and women in these conflict zones.
At times I felt uncomfortable looking at some of the images, especially those that depict the desperation of the people involved or those that show the aftermath of the violence. The exhibition shows the often banal and indiscriminate nature of war. It also is frustrating that we can’t seem to learn from history and that these conflicts are still happening.
My favourite images were those that gave a real insight into the lives of ordinary people in these war zones. They succeed in capturing a moment in time, which is often uncomfortable for us as the viewer. We are given a view into an often alien world, a world that most of us are lucky enough never to have experienced.
Who were these women? I’ve picked three to focus on.
Lee Miller (1907-1977, American)
Lee Miller started her career as a model. She met the surrealist artist Man Ray and became his lover, muse and apprentice. She developed her photographic skills and style through working with him.
During the Second World War she was an accredited war correspondent for Vogue. Her first photos, taken in Germany, depict cities in ruins and show everyday life. Her later photographs of Dachau and Buchenwald show the horror and scale of the genocide.
Lee Miller was the only photographer that I had heard of before visiting the exhibition. When I worked for the Imperial War Museum in London we had an exhibition called Lee Miller: A Woman’s War. Its focus was on the role of women in war. In addition to admiring her photography I also enjoyed discovering more about her life from Vogue model to Vogue correspondent. I’m looking forward to visiting a new Lee Miller exhibition at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich. Lee Miller – A Photographer Between War and Glamor opens 28 August 2020.
Anja Niedringhaus (1965-2014, German)
In 1990, at the age of only 24, she became the first female photographer to be employed by the European Pressphoto Agency. Two years later, she started an assignment as war photographer during the Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001). She then went on to report from war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and Libya. In 2005, she and her colleagues won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage from Iraq.
Her photos show a strong affinity with the civilian population whose lives she documented under the influence of war and conflict. She was tragically killed, by a police officer, whilst covering the presidential elections in Afghanistan.
Carolyn Cole (1961- , American)
Carolyn Cole has worked as a photographer for the Los Angeles Times since 1994.
At the beginning of the Iraq War (2003), she reported from Baghdad where she witnessed the bombings by US forces. She photographed the civilians affected by the war as well as the presence of American troops and their acts of war.
The other photographers featured in the exhibition are:
Gerda Taro (1910–1937), Catherine Leroy (1944–2006), Christine Spengler (1945- ), Françoise Demulder (1947–2008), Susan Meiselas (1948- ).
The exhibition made me want to discover more about some of the conflicts but through the eyes of civilians. If you’re interested in reading more about the Iranian Revolution I can highly recommend Persepolis. The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi. Written in black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her childhood in Tehran that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. With humour, she writes about her often tragic experiences .
For me the exhibition was a perfect balance of showing excellent photography, by women, in war and conflict zones alongside giving an insight into the history of these conflicts and the impact on soldiers and civilians alike. A picture really does speak a thousand words. Go and see for yourself. The exhibition runs until 30 August at the Fotomuseum in Winterthur.
