Turning the Lens on War

Our view of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has been shaped by the images recorded by not only photojournalists but also by enlisted combat photographers. The Reform Gallery in Los Angeles is exhibiting a collection of war photos taken by U.S. military photographers in Iraq and Afghanistan (from May 24 through July 5). All proceeds from "Eye of the Storm: War Through the Lens of American Combat Photographers" will be donated to soldiers wounded in the two conflicts. Curator Dane Jensen discussed the show with NEWSWEEK's Jenny Hontz.

NEWSWEEK: Whose idea was it to exhibit war photos from military combat photographers?
Dane Jensen: It was my idea. I initially conceived of a show with photos taken by average soldiers. But then I realized the level of talent from military photographers was really quite amazing. They are all professional, enlisted combat photographers.

Why did you decide to do this exhibit?
I really wanted to do something to help the men and women coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. In the news they talk about the death toll, but no one is talking about the injuries. It's really a war of injuries, and you don't hear as much about them after they come back to the States. I tried to find a way to help. All of the proceeds will go to the Wounded Warrior Project.

How did you choose the photos?
I had an idea stylistically, and I basically started with the best in the military. It took a lot of vetting. I found ones that fit our needs aesthetically. This is a fine arts show with 41 images. [They're] all layered. I was looking for anomalies, ones that said something about this war and defined elements of it. But I was looking for things we do not see coming out of the media.

Such as?
Incredible pollution and child labor. There's a photo of a family building a home in a landfill. The Iraqi refuges are not something you hear a lot about. The soldiers on the ground see a lot of that. This is their viewpoint. It's quite shocking to a lot of people.

Why does the military hire combat photographers?
Number one, to document history. And they have an entire media relations department that sends images to the public. A lot of them end up in magazines and newspapers. They also use them for their own promotional material, in advertisements, in-house pamphlets, recruiting material. In World War II a lot of the photos of Omaha Beach and some of the iconic images of the war came from military photographers.

Very few of the photos are of combat missions, and there's not much blood and gore. Are you worried that photos from the military might sanitize or, given the beauty of the images, glamorize the war?
I'm not concerned about glamorizing war. They're not going to release images of dead American soldiers. But any independent photographer or embedded journalist has told that story. It is alluded to in these photos. That's more interesting than showing gruesome images. Everyone knows it's gruesome, but you can show it in an artful way. They're not exactly spelling it out for you. There's one photograph of three soldiers in a police station talking about their friend who died. They're not looking at each other, because they don't want to see the fear in each other's eyes. You can see the stress and fatigue, but you have to read the back story. There's a certain value to showing the brutality of war, but there's another way to tell it.

A lot of the images capture prosaic moments.
I don't think [combat] is the only thing going on. There are humanitarian missions. They're helping train Iraqi forces. Whether it's working or not history will judge. The soldiers tell me they are there to help Iraqis build a safer place, a better place. The media is focused on specific events. This is a more day-to-day representation. Who could have imagined a baseball game going on in Iraq? That's a very American photograph. These are small moments you do not typically see.