Storyteller: Photography by Tim Hetherington

Moving exhibition at the Imperial War Museum on the work and career of war photographer Tim Hetherington.

Hetherington, who was killed on assignment in 2011, would not have liked to be described as a war photographer. The show started with a wonderful quote by him “I do not set out to make a work of journalism, but rather a visual novel that draws upon real people and places.”

The show used a selection of his projects to explain his working methods, using a vintage camera which meant that he didn’t cover his face when taking pictures but instead engaged with his sitters. It also looked at his films which he made at the same time as taking the photographs.

I found the most moving pictures were from when he was embedded with the US army in Afghanistan mainly talking photographs of the soldiers off duty and using them partly as a study in masculinity. 

Closes 29 September 2024


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