The Messenger Delivers
"Beauty is a vexed matter in scenes of suffering, cruelty and death. The difference between exploitation and public service comes down to whether the subject of the image aids the ego of the photographer more than the other way around. The two are not mutually exclusive."
The New York Times says that the world's cruelty and pain can be seen in an unblinking lens in an art review of the two James Nachtwey exhibits currently up in New York City. "The Sacrifice" runs through April 24 401 Projects (401 West Street, at Charles Street, West Village) and "World Free of TB" runs through April 27 in the visitors' lobby of the United Nations (First Avenue at 46th Street, Manhattan).
In a perfect world, muses the writer the whole world would see these photographs. An ex-marine who lost his right arm in Iraq stopped by the show at 401, and echoed a similar sentiment: that these photos should be on billboards in Times Square so everybody would know what's really happening over there, and nobody could miss seeing them. "There would be no chance to turn the page or flip the channel or skip the exhibition."
There would be no way we could look away.
27 March 2007 by Melissa Lyttle
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