What happens off the front lines, when the combat concludes or has not yet begun, but guns and poverty abound? Pete Muller is an award-winning photojournalist whose work and life serve as enduring provocations on the tensions that lie beneath cycles of conflict. Through his work he aims to illustrate broader issues through individual stories. He strives to create images that ask viewers to give emotional and intellectual consideration to the lives and experiences of those depicted.
Risk is inherent to the work of a conflict photographer. Many have paid the ultimate price. Joao Silva and a group of photojournalists known as the "Bang Bang Club" gained international notoriety for their work in the townships of Johannesburg in post-apartheid South Africa. While he survived many close calls, many of his colleagues did not. He escaped without serious physical injuries in South Africa, but his life radically changed in Afghanistan in 2011 when the world in front of his camera came crashing through the lens.
Nicole Tung is a 28 year old photojournalist who has already seen more than her share of tragedy. Two of her closest friends and fellow photojournalists died before their time. And yet, she continues to travel to the most conflict-ridden corners of the world, running quicker and closer into danger than anyone.
The most profound kinds of conflict and are those that come from without to live within. Robin Hammond's images are visceral illustrations of injustice and dehumanization that depict victims of sexual violence, mental health disorders, and abuse. Robin has been left with a drive to find ways to make change to his subjects' lives rather than simply documenting them.
Eros Hoagland has a long history with conflict. His father, John Hoagland, was a conflict photographer who was killed in El Salvador in 1984. Eros' work in Mexico demonstrates the extent of corruption throughout society, the overwhelming scale of the conflict, an inability to tell the good guys from the bad, and the complicity of both the U.S. and all layers of Mexican society.