James Nachtwey Infierno

8/18/2019 James Nachtwey Infierno

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"I have been a witness, and these pictures are

my testimony. The events I have recorded should

not be forgotten and must not be repeated."

-James Nachtwey-

Chechnya, 1996 - Ruins of central Grozny.


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Common Wealth Award, Martin Luther King Award, Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, Henry Luce

Award, Robert Capa Gold Medal (five times), the World Press Photo Award (twice), Magazine Photographer of the

Year (seven times), the International Center of Photography Infinity Award (three times), the Leica Award (twice),

the Bayeaux Award for War Correspondents (twice), the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award, the Canon Photo essayist Award

and the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Grant in Humanistic Photography. He is a fellow of the Royal Photographic

Society and has an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Arts.

Chechnya, 1996 - No man' s land between Russian army and Chechen rebels in Grozny.


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While he says it’s difficult to gauge the influence of his own work, Nachtwey was gratified when a Red Cross official told him that his photos of the 1992famine in Somalia, which he’d taken on spec and were ultimately published inThe New York Times Magazine, helped mobilize donors “and turn thesituation around. He said 1.5 million lives were saved. That made it all

worthwhile. It means everything to know your work has that kind of impact.”3

Sudan, 1993 - Famine victim in a feeding center.

donors “and turn the situation around. He said 1.5 million lives were saved. That made it all worthwhile. It means everything to know your work has that kind of impact.”


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Somalia, 1992 - Child starved by famine, a man-made weapon of mass

extermination.

Sudan, 1993 - Famine victim about to receive water in a feeding center.

Somalia, 1992 - Famine victim sewn into burial shroud.

Starvation and disease are

the original weapons of

mass destruction. When youburn fields and kill animals,

people are left vulnerable.

Hundreds of thousands of

people were killed by this

means in Somalia.


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"It was an unbelievable genocide," said Nachtwey, "peopleslaughtered with primitive weapons by their own countrymenat close range. To this day I don't understand it.” 1

Rwanda, 1994 - Survivor of Hutu death camp.


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“During the question and answer period someone commented that Nachtwey oftenshowed esthetically beautiful compositions of terrible subjects. Nachtwey, who joinedMagnum in 1986, said his approach was an homage to Eugene Smith, Joseph Koudelka,Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa.” 1

Romania, 1990 - An orphan in an institution for "incurables".


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"It shook my faith," he said, "because the reason for theseatrocities was politically oriented, the price paid forindustrialization in Romania.” 1

Romania, 1990 - An orphanage for " incurables".


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"This is a bedroom where he begins and now it has

become a battlefield…” - Nachtwey 1

Bosnia, 1993 - Ethnic cleansing in Mostar. Croat militiaman fires on his Moslem neighbors.


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If you make an honest picture of war, it will be an antiwar photograph.

-Nachtwey 2

Afghanistan, 1996 - Mourning a brother killed by a Taliban rocket.


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“…I still think people want to hold a magazine, read a printed page and contemplate it. Digital interference meansthat a picture is no longer a photo document but becomes a photo illustration. As journalists we lose our credibility."But, an audience member asked, how is computer manipulation different from dodging and burning?Nachtwey said that he condones darkroom techniques to bring the image closer to what his eye had seen, but henever "plays the hand of God and burns the sky dark.” 1

Afghanistan, 1996 - Ruins of Kabul from civil war.


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Alabama, 1994 - Prisoner on the chain gang.

Alabama, 1994 - Punishment post on the chain gang.

When the t ruth i sspoken, it doesn't need to

be adorned. It just needsto be simply stated, andoften it only needs to besaid once.2


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In the present tense, photography is critical in helping create an atmosphere in which

change is possible, not only possible but inevitable…it becomes an archive of visual

memory, so that we learn from the past and apply its lessons to the future.” 4

Pakistan, 2001 - A rehab center for heroin addicts.


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For me, the strength of photography lies in its ability to evoke a sense of humanity. If war is an attempt to negatehumanity, then photography can be perceived as the opposite of war and if it is used well it can be a powerfulingredient in the antidote to war. 4

Bosnia, 1993 - Mourning a soldier killed by Serbs and buried in what was

once a football field.


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to create pictures powerful enough to overcome the diluting effects of the mass media and shakepeople out of their indifference, to protest, and by the strength of that protest to make others protest. 4

Afghanistan is the world’s leading producer of opium poppy. NATO spends tens of millions annually on anti-drug measures to prevent Afghan dope fromflooding Moscow, New York and London – and profits from filling Taliban war coffers.


15/19Drug users gather beneath a bridge over an open sewer in Kabul.


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Many addicts are former refugees from the Soviet occupation in the 1980s or the civil wars that followed; they picked up the habit incamps in Iran and Pakistan. Others are veterans of those wars. They are now being joined by a new generation of addictstraumatized by the current fighting. Many gather to shoot up in the bomb-blasted ruins of Kabul’s old town, within view of thepresidential palace. 5

Many addicts are ex-war refugees who picked up the habit in Iran and Pakistan, or military veterans wrecked by combat and isolation.


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In 2001, Nachtwey, along with 6 other photojournalists created their own photo agency VII with this mission

statement:

“What unites VII’s work is a sense that, in the act of communication at the very least, all is not lost; the seeds of

hope and resolution inform even the darkest records of inhumanity; reparation is always possible; despair is never

absolute.”

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in 2011 Nachtwey decided to leave VII saying that “I disassociated from the agency as a photographer.” His

photography business is now being conducted through his own business.

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New York, 2001 - Ground Zero.


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Citations

Nachtwey, James. “ Ruins of central Grozny.”1996. James Nacthwey. Web. 3 Nov. 2013

Nachtwey, James. “ No man’s land between Russian army and Chechen rebels in Grozny.” 1996. James Nacthwey. Web. 3 Nov. 2013

Nachtwey, James. “ Famine victim in a feeding center.” 1993. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “Child starved by famine, a man-made weapon of mass-extermination.”1992. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ Famine victim sewn into burial shroud” 1992. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ Famine victim about to receive water in a feeding center.” 1993. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “Survivor of Hutu death camp.” 1994. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ An orphan institution for “incurables”.” 1990. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ An orphanage for “incurables”.” 1990. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013 .

Nachtwey, James. “ Ethnic cleansing in Mostar. Croat militiaman fires on his Moslem neighbors.” 1993. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ Mourning a brother killed by a Taliban rocket.” 1996. James Nachtwey.Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ Ruins of Kabul from civil war .” 1996. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ Prisoner on the chain gang”.” 1994. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ Punishment post on the chain gang”.” 1994. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ A rehab center for heroine addicts.” 2001. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “ Mourning a soldier killed by Serbs and buried in what was once a football field..” 1993. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.

Nachtwey, James. “Untitled.” 2011. Tine. Time Lightbox. Web. 3 Nov 2013 .



Nachtwey, James. “Ground Zero.” 2001. James Nachtwey. Web. 3 Nov 2013.


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Citations

1Smith, Rosalind Hughes, Holly Stuart. "James Nachtwey Addressed P.R.C." Photo District News 16.3

(1996): 116. MasterFILE Premier . Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

2 Fussman, Cal. "James Nachtwey." Esquire 144.4 (2005): 206. MasterFILE Premier . Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

3 Barber, Bonnie. “Photographer James Nachtwey ’70 Awarded the Dresden International PeacePrize.” Dartmouth. Dartmouth Now. 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

4 Chalifour, Bruno. "On James Natchwey And VII: From Inferno To War: A Few Considerations On

James Natchwey, VII, And War Photography." Afterimage 31.6 (2004): 4-5. Art Source. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

5

Motlagh, Jason. “Addiction in Afghanistan by James Nachtwey.” Time. Time Lightbox. 3 May 2011.Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

6 Faliis, Greg. “James Nachtwey.” Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon with Greg Fallis. n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2013

7 Hughes, Holly. “Nachtwy has left VII Photo; Agency Prepares for Expansion.” PDN. PDN Pulse. 29

Aug 2011. 3 Nov. 2013

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James Nachtwey Infierno