Turning the Lens on War

Those are stories that political and military leaders often say they want told. Were you concerned you might be serving as their mouthpiece?
I don't feel that way at all. I specifically designed the exhibit to be apolitical. The military chooses which images are released to the public. There is some influence there. But I do not feel the exhibit is at all tainted. I could have easily done an exhibit of silhouetted soldiers in the desert against the sunset. I didn't choose to do that exhibit. I took a long time in researching this. I interviewed the photographers at length to get the whole story.

Did anything from your interviews surprise you?
It was a bit enlightening. As a nonmilitary person, I would think, if I went over there, I would never want to go back. For them it's the opposite. They want to go back. This is their time to capture history. They know they will get great pictures there. It's the epicenter of what's happening in the world. They know these are images that will live well beyond their years.

Your exhibit features a couple of female combat photographers. Is that unique to this war?
That is something that really defines this war. Only two female photographers have won the military-photographer-of-the-year award. Stacy Pearsall won it twice. Cherie Thurlby is also in this exhibition. She took an image of [Saddam Hussein's] bombed-out palace. She is part of the first all-female combat photography team, a two-person team with a videographer. They were there in the very early days of the war. With the bombed-out palace, she had to convince the Special Forces to let them in.

She also took the photograph of young Afghan girls pleading for help in the U.S. Army women's medic tent.
She had specifically gone to the women's tent. You can see a female perspective, a certain connection she had with the subjects. It's perhaps not a viewpoint we would have seen had a female photographer not been there.

Were any of the photographers injured in the war?
Stacy Pearsall was injured twice, in two different IED attacks. Both times she was hit in the neck. She's fine.

Will the exhibit travel to cities other than Los Angeles?
I've envisioned it showing in New York, maybe Miami and Chicago. I'd like it to travel. It would be interesting for it to show in Europe. Different parts of the country will view it differently. I think, for example, if I show it in San Diego, which has a heavy military presence, it will be a distinctly different crowd than a show in Miami for a fine arts crowd. It will strike different chords with different people.

Do you have any personal connection to the military?
I don't have any family in the military. I'm not involved in the military. This is not about the military. I thought, this is a story, and how am I going to approximate what war is like? It's a story best told by soldiers. It's told by them, and it's for them. It's such a distinct and emotional event. I'm more a vessel or a conduit.

Aside form raising money for wounded soldiers, what do you hope to accomplish with this exhibit?
Two things: within the political scene today, Iraq is slipping in importance. I hope people will have a heightened awareness of what's going on in Iraq and will be moved to donate to people who are helping us and are willing to put everything on the line. These people should not be forgotten. We can also recognize the great work of these photographers.

© 2008