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Photographs by MAG's Sean Sutton
Venue: External Spaces, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, UK
Dates: Until 6 June 2010
Price: FREE
Powerful and striking images from award-winning conflict photographer Sean Sutton form a new, large-scale outdoor display at Imperial War Museum North [north.iwm.org.uk] in Manchester. The display is a unique collaboration between the Museum and MAG, marking 20 years of MAG clearing remnants of conflict for the benefit of people worldwide.
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Cousins Altin, aged nine, and Adem, aged thirteen, were playing in a field when one of them set off a trip-wire activated fragmentation mine. They each lost both of their legs. Kosovo 1999. |
Sean is a photojournalist who has travelled from Kosovo to Africa, the Middle East and South-east Asia, recording the impact of landmines for more than 20 years. He has worked for MAG since 1997.
Made up of six large black and white images, the exhibition reveals how war continues to shape lives, even after ceasefires.
Sean’s photographs feature children and adults affected by landmines, unexploded munitions, small arms and other deadly remnants of conflict.
One image shows Kosovan cousins Altin, nine, and Adem, 13, who were playing in a field when one of them set off a trip-wire activated mine. They each lost both of their legs.
Another image shows Alberto from Angola, holding the mine he found while planting cassava in his garden.
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Using a unique framing system, the six large-scale photographic works are displayed back-to-back in three frames, five metres in height, positioned outside Imperial War Museum North. The large scale and ultra-high definition of the images exposes the raw emotions of each subject.
Unexploded remnants of conflict can leave whole communities living in fear for decades. Each year, landmines continue to kill, injure and disable over 12,000 people.
The majority of landmine survivors Sean has photographed knew that they were in a mined area when they had their accident, but necessity compelled them to enter the area to collect water or gather firewood. This tragic reality is still common in countries affected by war.
Sutton’s photographs have played a crucial role in bringing to light the impact landmines, cluster munitions and other abandoned ordnance have on ordinary people for many years. They have been used on the Discovery Channel, the BBC and ITV, and in Time Magazine, National Geographic, The Guardian and Le Monde amongst many other publications, to illustrate to the public that landmines do not obey ceasefires, that the legacy of conflict can and does live on for many years after war has ended.
Exhibitions of his images are currently on tour in Germany and the Netherlands, and his pictures have been displayed at the prestigious Perpignan festival. A permanent exhibition of Sean’s work stands at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, and later this month he will travel to Cartagena, Colombia, for the annual international meeting of signatories to the Mine Ban Treaty, to curate a large exhibition of his photos.
Jim Forrester, Imperial War Museum North Director, said: "We have a long-standing relationship with MAG and both organisations deal with the human impact of global conflicts. This display is a very powerful reminder that war has long lasting effects on people as they try to rebuild their lives."
Visitors can continue to explore the theme of landmines inside Imperial War Museum North. A Leopard Security Vehicle, designed to protect its occupants from landmines and small arms fire in Southern Rhodesia in the 1980s, is on display in the Main Exhibition Space. Anti-personnel mines from the 1992-1995 war in Yugoslavia, designed for use against people rather than vehicles, are on display alongside a leaflet instructing people caught in mined area to ‘Think, look feel, prod, live’.
A warning sign from Angola, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world with up to two mines for every person, reads ‘Perigo Minas – Danger Mines!’ A British anti-tank mine from the Second World War is also on display in the Museum.
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Sean next to the outdoor display at Imperial War Museum North. |
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