20 July 2003: Joseph Duo, a Liberian militia commander loyal to the government, exults after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces at a key strategic bridge in Monrovia © Chris Hondros / Getty Images
Opening reception on 26 October (18:00) with remarks by Amina J. Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General.
Trapped with Liberian dictator Charles Taylor’s forces in besieged Monrovia in the summer of 2003, Chris braved artillery and rocket fire to send frontline pictures of women and children being killed by the hundreds. His photos ran on front pages around the world and provoked outrage at a brutal war whose victims were almost entirely non-combatants.
Tim Hetherington, embedded with the LURD rebels in the same period, provided the documentation of the rebels shelling civilians. Even the ruthless Charles Taylor considered him a threat and sent assassination squads to kill the British photojournalist. Tim barely escaped, only to return and live in Liberia following the conflict. His haunting book, Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold, has become a standard text of the Liberian Wars.
Together, these two photographers alerted the world to Liberia’s humanitarian disaster and helped to build the international momentum which resulted in the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping mission that brought the war to a close, helped set the stage for democratic elections and created a lasting success story for the West African nation and the subregion. The UN closed its Liberia mission last year--the last of three successful operations in the Mano River basin—leaving being a country still fragile but with a fighting chance for peace and development.
The photos in this exhibition, some never before shown, are a tribute to these journalists, and to the Liberian civilians who protested so powerfully and demanded an end to the violence. Read the remarks delivered by the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, at the opening of the exhibit.
In 2011, Tim and Chris, friends and colleagues committed to documenting the truth, were killed by artillery in Misurata, Libya.
In collaboration with: Magnum Photos, Getty Images, The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, The United Nations Foundation, and Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues.
Curated by Michael Kamber and Cynthia Rivera.
Exhibition information
Bronx Documentary Center--St Mary’s Annex
364 E. 151st Street, Bronx
Free entrance
For more information visit: https://www.bronxdoc.org/exhibits/war-and-peace-in-liberia/detail