Don McCullin: Life, Death and Everything in Between - 2

Don McCullin: Life, Death and Everything in Between - part 2

at Gazi, Athens.

This is the second post on this exhibition. You can see the first part here  .  If you don't want to read the introduction again, move down to the first photograph.

47 images from Don McCullin's book, Life, Death and Everything in Between, which document humanity's most poignant moments, from the depths of conflict and despair to glimpses of resilience and beauty.

McCullin is particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and impoverished.

Between 1966 and 1984, he worked as an overseas correspondent for the Sunday Times Magazine, recording ecological and human-made catastrophes such as wars, among them Biafra in 1968, and victims of the African Aids Epidemic. His hard-hatting coverage of the Vietnam War and the Northern Ireland conflict is held in particularly high regard.

In 1982, the British government refused to grant McCullin a press pass to cover the Falklands War, claiming the boat was full. At the time, he believed it was because the Thatcher government felt his images might be too disturbing politically.

He spoke of his approach to entering war zones: 'I have risked my life endless times, and ended up in hospital with all kinds of burns and shell wounds. I have those reptile eyes that see behind and in front of me. I'm constantly trying to stay alive. I'm aware of warfare, of hidden mines'.

Some of the photographs I took are spoiled with too much reflection. I was tempted not to include them, but I so wanted a record of them.

A young child soldier at a First Aid hospital in the last days of the war, (Cambodia, 1975)

looking closer

South Vietnamese capture a Viet Cong suspect. (Mekong Delta, Vietnam, 1965).

A man carries his wife who is dying from cholera, (Bangladesh, 1971)

Contaminated water cooling a cholera victim, (Bangladesh, 1971)

looking closer

A 16-year old boy named Stephen, living with a mental health condition and with tropical sores, close to death, (Biafra, 1968)

A dead North Vietnamese soldier and his belonging, (Hue, Vietnam, 1968)

Young boys boxing near the Caledonian Road, (London, England, 1960)

Homeless man sleeping while standing, (Whitechapel, London, England, 1970)

A flooded field near my home, (Somerset, England, 2021)

Tribal people returning from a market, (Mentawai Islands, 1982-83)

looking closer

Taking gifts to the sea gods, (Bali, Indonesia, 1984)

Early morning delivery of home furnishings, (Kolkata, India, 1997)

Finsbury Park, (London, England, 1960)

The Valley of the Tombs, (Palmyra, Syria, 2007)

The Great Colonnade, (Palmyra, Syria, 2007)