Don McCullin looks into the dark heart of human nature
Life Interrupted
On Friday, 26 November 2004, Christian Aid launched a new photographic exhibition on HIV/AIDS in Africa by Don McCullin. McCullin is considered by many to be the world's greatest photojournalist but what's he really like? What is the dark secret of the man behind the lens?
Don McCullin's photographs provide some of the iconic images of our time. His pictures of war and conflict, refugees fleeing and civilians in pain, have created searing impressions which are unforgettable in their power and humanity.
'It's not about you. It's not about art. You're there to record.'
For more than four decades McCullin has documented the human cost of conflict, from Vietnam and Lebanon to Cyprus and Northern Ireland. 'Seeing what others cannot bear to see, is what my life as a war reporter is about,' said McCullin in his autobiography, Unreasonable Behaviour.
While he is known as a war photojournalist, his landscapes of Somerset and pictures of everyday life in India are equally powerful - dark and dramatic scenes of beauty and grace.
McCullin bought his first camera while stationed in Uganda with the RAF. His photographs of his own working-class north London neighbourhood brought him to the attention of the picture editor of the Observer, for which he worked for many years. His first award-winning photographs were of Cold War Berlin.
'Photography is not just about photographs; it's about communication,' he wrote in the Guardian. 'It's not about you. It's not about art. You're there to record.'
In 2004, Don McCullin travelled with Christian Aid to Zambia and South Africa to document the impact of HIV/AIDS. In a series of powerful and evocative images, he records the destruction of lives and families, the tenderness of neighbours caring for neighbours and the unimaginable sorrow of the cemeteries.
But the pictures also tell of life brought back from the brink - of people no longer facing the certainty of death but the promise of life.
McCullin's portraits of life with HIV are unforgettable in their clarity, their humanity and in their insistence that we cannot look away. His photographs do more than bear witness. They compel us to act.
While he is known as a war photojournalist, his landscapes of Somerset and pictures of everyday life in India are equally powerful - dark and dramatic scenes of beauty and grace.
McCullin bought his first camera while stationed in Uganda with the RAF. His photographs of his own working-class north London neighbourhood brought him to the attention of the picture editor of the Observer, for which he worked for many years. His first award-winning photographs were of Cold War Berlin.
'Photography is not just about photographs; it's about communication,' he wrote in the Guardian. 'It's not about you. It's not about art. You're there to record.'
In 2004, Don McCullin travelled with Christian Aid to Zambia and South Africa to document the impact of HIV/AIDS. In a series of powerful and evocative images, he records the destruction of lives and families, the tenderness of neighbours caring for neighbours and the unimaginable sorrow of the cemeteries.
But the pictures also tell of life brought back from the brink - of people no longer facing the certainty of death but the promise of life.
McCullin's portraits of life with HIV are unforgettable in their clarity, their humanity and in their insistence that we cannot look away. His photographs do more than bear witness. They compel us to act.
'I think people in power don't know what really goes on. They probably go to meetings and come away patting themselves on the back. They are living a lie. They should come here and have a look for themselves.'
You can take action on Pressureworks now. Email Gordon Brown and urge him to persuade other G8 and EU governments to contribute to the UNAIDS $20 billion target. World governments spend this amount on defence in just eight days. It could alternatively provide treatment for 6 million people and support, care and HIV education for more than a billion.
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