Thelife
Warrant Photographer Jess W. January/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum
"In the news and magazines, people don't show us what's really going on," says Ann Wilkes Tucker, who curated the show with Will Michels. "We felt that if the soldiers have to see it and if the journalists have to see it, we have to see it."
Reactions to the exhibition have been mostly positive, if disturbed. Phillip Kennicott at The Washington Post called the exhibition "wrenching and horrifying," while Vince Aletti at The New Yorker found it "tough and unflinching."
Some reviewers, however, objected to the overwhelming size and structure of the exhibit, which is jam-packed and arranged thematically, with images of World War II appearing next to images of Afghanistan or Rwanda. The effect, according to Ken Johnson of The New York Times, is "mind-numbing" and "flawed."
One way or another, it's a powerful experience. With permission from the Brooklyn Museum, we are (again) publishing a selection of the photos.