Iraq Through the Lens of Vietnam
Dates: 03.10.08 - 15.11.08
Venue: University of Brighton Gallery
Dates: 03.10.08 - 15.11.08
Venue: University of Brighton Gallery
The first impression I got from the exhibition was the contrast between the high tech digital imagery of the Iraqi war and analog old school photography of the Vietnamese conflict.
The imagery through high resolution digital form is bright and fresh this contrasts with the paler more subdued darker photography of the analog images.
The final publication of each somehow drawn from how the images were produced. The imagery of the Iraqi war gives the observer the impression of instant, up to date photojournalism, which is instantly ready to be mass published through a number of different media.
Compare this to the methods used to capture and publish imagery by photojournalists during the Vietnamese war.
In 1960/70 war images took much longer to capture, render and publish.
The exhibition's website (www.bpb.org.uk) points out instances during the Vietnamese war where photojornalists had to hike for 3/4 weeks to get to the areas of combat, carrring just one or two rolls of film.
"These photographers, who were also combatants, had to go to the combat zone by hiking down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an extremely dangerous journey that could take many weeks. They carried a roll or two of film. They would develop their films in makeshift underground darkrooms, wash film and prints in jungle streams, and hang prints in guerrilla camps. For publication, most photographers would have to hike back up the Trail to the North, not daring to entrust their film to anyone else."
Two trails of thought stem from this information.
1, The first trail of thought lead me to conclude that since the photographers of the Vietnamese war were also soldiers, therefor able they were in a better position to capture much more realistic imagery.
2. The second trail of though is that the modern digital technology presently used means it is much easier to capture and publish imagery therefor this leads to a more realistic interpretation of the war in question. It also reaches a wider audience thought more technologically advanced communication.
It also is published much faster leaving less time for the imagery to be censored and again leading to a more realistic representation of the war in question.
However this point does call into question the process of "Embedding" photojournalists into particular military units. This is obviously an attempt to censer the imagery captured and thus giving a biased one sided view of the war in question the foundation stone of any successfully propaganda mission.
The imagery through high resolution digital form is bright and fresh this contrasts with the paler more subdued darker photography of the analog images.
The final publication of each somehow drawn from how the images were produced. The imagery of the Iraqi war gives the observer the impression of instant, up to date photojournalism, which is instantly ready to be mass published through a number of different media.
Compare this to the methods used to capture and publish imagery by photojournalists during the Vietnamese war.
In 1960/70 war images took much longer to capture, render and publish.
The exhibition's website (www.bpb.org.uk) points out instances during the Vietnamese war where photojornalists had to hike for 3/4 weeks to get to the areas of combat, carrring just one or two rolls of film.
"These photographers, who were also combatants, had to go to the combat zone by hiking down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an extremely dangerous journey that could take many weeks. They carried a roll or two of film. They would develop their films in makeshift underground darkrooms, wash film and prints in jungle streams, and hang prints in guerrilla camps. For publication, most photographers would have to hike back up the Trail to the North, not daring to entrust their film to anyone else."
Two trails of thought stem from this information.
1, The first trail of thought lead me to conclude that since the photographers of the Vietnamese war were also soldiers, therefor able they were in a better position to capture much more realistic imagery.
2. The second trail of though is that the modern digital technology presently used means it is much easier to capture and publish imagery therefor this leads to a more realistic interpretation of the war in question. It also reaches a wider audience thought more technologically advanced communication.
It also is published much faster leaving less time for the imagery to be censored and again leading to a more realistic representation of the war in question.
However this point does call into question the process of "Embedding" photojournalists into particular military units. This is obviously an attempt to censer the imagery captured and thus giving a biased one sided view of the war in question the foundation stone of any successfully propaganda mission.
The most impressive image of the exhibition for me, is an image of a child in a metal asylum, chained to a bed. The way the image captured the emotion of the boy I really did feel dislocated from the typical half hearted emotion felt when seeing some of the other images, the images hits home the true cold cruel reality of war.
As an infant the boys mother was gunned down and killed while he was still in her arms. This drove the child insane, the background information continued to say that when helicopters flew over head the child would try in vein to scream over their sound.
All the background information was really helpful and made the exhibition a lot more interactive and for me much more interesting.
One point about the exhibition i did not fully understand was the fact the exibition seemed to only show imagery of US troops in Iraq. Every state in Europe if not the whole western world has played there own role the assist the "allies" efforts in Iraq but this is never fully reported in any depth by our own media. This most also say something about our role in this war. The exhibitions deliberate contrast of offical US imagery of the Iraqi war and internet leaked imagery of Guantanomo Bay is certainly ironic when we consider what we as the a European citizens did nothing substantial to object.
Use of independent web site footage.
While the idea to include this form of imagery was expressive in principle, the fact the imagery captured was pixelated and left me unsure of why this was included.
I only found out for sure when I was later researching the website.
Overall I thought the exhibition was a really worthwhile experience and defiantly got me to think about issues while I would not have considered before.
As an infant the boys mother was gunned down and killed while he was still in her arms. This drove the child insane, the background information continued to say that when helicopters flew over head the child would try in vein to scream over their sound.
All the background information was really helpful and made the exhibition a lot more interactive and for me much more interesting.
One point about the exhibition i did not fully understand was the fact the exibition seemed to only show imagery of US troops in Iraq. Every state in Europe if not the whole western world has played there own role the assist the "allies" efforts in Iraq but this is never fully reported in any depth by our own media. This most also say something about our role in this war. The exhibitions deliberate contrast of offical US imagery of the Iraqi war and internet leaked imagery of Guantanomo Bay is certainly ironic when we consider what we as the a European citizens did nothing substantial to object.
Use of independent web site footage.
While the idea to include this form of imagery was expressive in principle, the fact the imagery captured was pixelated and left me unsure of why this was included.
I only found out for sure when I was later researching the website.
Overall I thought the exhibition was a really worthwhile experience and defiantly got me to think about issues while I would not have considered before.
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