Page 23 - Lamplight Magazine (1)

Ta t e B ritain is curren tly hosting a re trosp ective on the career
of B ritish p ho t ojournalist D on Mc C ullin, f amous for his arresting
imag es of c on flicts a t home and abroad. T he e xhibition c onsists of
black and whit e pho t o gr ap hs, rep rin t ed by the artist himself f rom
original nega tives, c hronicling major even ts he has c overed
throughout his long career. A longside are magazines c on t e xtualis -
ing their or igi nal use and a room where lar g e scale c olour pho t o -
gr ap hs of over fi fty artic les sho w c asing hi s w ork are p rojec t ed
on t o a w all.
It is a p oignan t and sobering reminder of the p rofound misery
brough t up on the victims of social and armed c on flicts. It is
imp ossible t o g o through the hundreds of pictures survey ing the
dep ths of human hardship , suffering, and grie f without being
moved. Across his differen t p rojec ts, Mc C ullin does no t take sides
and tries t o g e t as close as p ossible t o the truth.
Mc C ullin is fir st and foremost a visual st ory t eller. He is no t
c onc er ned with c rea ting p ictures c onsidered art. I n his o wn w ords:
‘ the only eq uip men t I take on my assignmen t is my head and my
eyes and my heart. I c ould take the p oorest equip men t and I w ould
still take the same p ho t o gr ap hs. T hey migh t no t be as sharp, but
they w ould c ertainly say the same thing.’ T ha t is no t t o say he
C ultur al Revie w
does no t care about the c omp osition or q uality of his p ic tures.
I ndeed, they re flec t an inc redible in tuition and a dedica tion t o
f r aming his subjec ts so as t o p ortr ay them as f aith f ully as
p ossible. B ut these elemen ts are all subservien t t o his ultima t e A Tu rkish w om an mou rn s her h usban d , wh o was killed by G re ek
g oal of ‘seducing p eople in t o actually hanging on a bit long er forc es in Cypru s in 1964.
when they look a t [these a trocity p ictures]’, and instilling in them
a sense of ‘c onsc ious obliga tion’. T hese p ho t o gr ap hs w ere, a ft er
all, mean t t o be sho wn in magazines read over breakf ast or in
w aiting rooms by individuals f ar removed f rom these curren t
a trocities, no t hung in the w alls of a gallery decades la t er t o be
p erused as stagnan t aesthe tic p iec es.
Never theless, even in this ne w c on t e xt these imag es have lost
none of their imp act. T his is achieved through an un flinc hing
de t ermina tion t o c ap ture r a w, oft en gr ap hic sc enes tha t most of us
ignore, or simp ly canno t bear t o look a t. H is w ork is marked by a
deep sense of emp a thy with the subjects he c ap tures. A lthough
many bleak themes reoc cur - the dea th of a loved one grieved by a
f amily, a p hy sically or men tally maimed soldier, sic k and starving
children - they are all poignan tly uniq ue. Suffering migh t be
univer sal, but everyone e xperienc es it differen tly. S ome of his
subjects are in a sta t e of shock, with vacan t eyes. O ther s, mean - A C am bodian w om an clutch es th e bod y of her h us band , w ho was
while, op enly w eep . Mc C ullin is insist en t on establishing in tima t e killed du rin g th e batt le for P h nom Pen h in 1975.
trust with his subjects, alw ay s making sure t o g e t their ap p roval
and trea ting them with the utmost dignity.
Many of the p ictures in this re trospective are haun ting and
will stay with me forever. It is an in t ense e xercise in human
emp a thy w ith those in the most dire situa tions c onveyed in stark
black and whit e. It is a t ough but essen tial e xhibition.

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