Group Exhibition MAGNUM PHOTOS: STATES OF CONFLICT

Magnum Photos: States of Conflict
examines some of the watershed
moments of civic transformation over
the last 40 years. Since 1948, Magnum
photographers have been depicting
conflict around the world, and the collective’s
force reflects photography’s
enduring power as a tool for change.
The images in this exhibition reveal
the intrepid persistence and unique
personal vision of their makers.

Bruno Barbey, a Frenchman born
in Morocco, captured the turbulence
of the May 1968 student protests and
general strikes in Paris that led to the
collapse of French president Charles
de Gaulle’s government. Barbey photographed
the riots, occupations and
street battles to communicate the
urgency of this seminal point in time.

In 1979, American photographer
Susan Meiselas documented the
Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua.
Twenty-five years later, she returned
to the region with murals of images
she made during the insurrection and
installed them in the public spaces
where the photographs were originally
taken. Meiselas’ photographs capture
the sites of collective remembrance she
created in her project Reframing History.

Twenty years after Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square protests in 1989,
Englishman Stuart Franklin’s iconic
images are symbols of defiance and
aggression. Franklin’s celebrated
photograph of the infamous man
standing before advancing tanks is
among the world’s most recognizable
photographs. His images encapsulate
the magnitude of an insurrection that
shocked the world.

Canada’s Larry Towell shows black-and-white
photographs that depict
anger and fear, aggression and assault.
Reminiscent of his images of conflict
in the West Bank, these images were
captured while dodging hurtling rocks
and flying tear gas canisters. Perhaps
surprisingly, they portray the police
and RCMP riot police confronting
demonstrators opposed to the expansion
of the North American Free Trade
Agreement in Quebec City, 2001.

Originally from Germany, Thomas
Dworzak has documented the conflict
in Chechnya, the crisis in Kosovo, the
war in Macedonia and the revolutions
in the former Soviet republics
of Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine,
among many other tragic events.
Unified by Dworzak’s finely tuned
sense of colour, his photographs
captured around the world possess
an overwhelming ability to illuminate
humanity in states of conflict.

As an extension of the focus on conflict
through still images, a series of short
documentary films by Magnum in
Motion – from photographers’ behind-the-
scenes, first-hand accounts to thematic
essays – further convey the global
experiences of the agency’s members.
Reflecting complex histories, all of the
images in this exhibition inform the
way we see our evolving world.

Thomas Dworzak’s work is presented in association
with the
Goethe-Institut Toronto.