JANUARY 27 TO APRIL 14, 2006
FIFTY YEARS ON THE FRONTLINE
PHILIP JONES GRIFFITHS
Exhibition Dates
January 26
OPENING PREVIEW RECEPTION – FIFTY YEARS ON THE FRONTLINES
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
March 1
MUSEUM OPEN HOUSE
Fifty Years on the Frontlines
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
March 15
MUSEUM OPEN HOUSE
Meet author Peter Howe
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
March 15
MUSEUM LECTURE SERIES
Peter Howe - Vietnam, Other Wars and Philip Jones Griffiths
7:00 p.m. Bldg. 150, Rm.101 (Lecture Hall, UCF) DBCC
“Not Since Goya has anyone portrayed war like Philip Jones Griffiths”.
Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Philip
Jones-Griffiths' has produced unforgettable photographs for over five
decades on the front lines of world conflict. Tackling love, death,
frivolity, politics and violence, Griffiths' photographs comment
profoundly on virtually every aspect of human emotion. The exhibition
traces Griffiths compelling journey through the British presence in
Northern Ireland, colonialism in Rhodesia, the Algerian & Yom
Kippur wars, the Vietnam War, and, both in the United States and in
Viet Nam, the post-war era. It is a powerful collection of
black-and-white photographs presented in installation format.
Born
in Rhuddlan, Wales, Philip Jones Jones Griffiths photographed for the
Manchester Guardian. In 1961 he became a full-time freelancer for the
London Observer. He covered the Algerian War in 1962 then became based
in Central Africa, moving from there to Asia. He photographed in
Vietnam from 1966 to 1968. He went back to Vietnam in 1970. Jones
Griffiths became a member of the Magnum agency in 1971 and served as
President from 1980 to 1985. His photographs have appeared in every
major magazine in the world. Griffiths, who has exhibited widely in the
US and Europe has continued to work for Life and Géo on such stories
about buddhism in Cambodia, drought in India, poverty in Texas, the
re-greening of Vietnam, and the legacy of the war in Kuwait.
“Of
all the books about (the War,) this is the truest, the most important,
the most upsetting…the best work of photo-reportage of war ever
published”. The New Statesman.
Griffiths is
perhaps best known for his seminal Vietnam Inc, generally regarded as
one of the finest collections of photographs to come out of that long
war. Vietnam Inc. crystallized public opinion and was essential in
shaping Western misgivings about the US involvement in Vietnam and
ultimately helping to bring the war to an end. Griffiths' images were
some of the first to clearly show the mismatch of American soldiers in
a place they didn't belong. He felt that America had became lost in a
conflict run by a government which had lost its perspective about its
place in the world. Ultimately, he showed the public the real horrors
of the Vietnam War. The outcome of three years of reporting, Vietnam
Inc. is one of the most detailed surveys of any conflict, and its
effectiveness depends also on the author's personal layout and
commentaries, both matter of fact and darkly ironic. His other books
include Dark Odyssey; Agent Orange, Collateral Damage in Vietnam and
Vietnam at Peace.
Presented
in association with Philip Jones Griffiths, Magnum Photos, Trolley
Books, Artists for Humanity and Duggal Visual Solutions. Curated by
George Carrano.
Programs for Fifty Years on the Frontline
|