In 2001, Bronx Documentary Center founder and photojournalist Michael Kamber planned the non-profit from his post in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Center’s inaugural exhibition, in October of 2011, featured work from Afghanistan by the late photographer Tim Hetherington.
10 years later, URGENCY! Afghanistan, a photographic “exhibition in progress” at the Bronx Documentary is showing the work of more than a half dozen photojournalists who covered America’s 20-year war. The exhibition will open on September 11th, 2021.
The photographs included will cover the American invasion, the American occupation and counterinsurgency, Afghan women’s struggle for civil rights, the growing strength of the resurgent Taliban and the American withdrawal. Pictures of victorious Americans taken in 2001 are juxtaposed with images of the Taliban taking Kabul the last week of August, 2021. The BDC is receiving new images from photographers currently in Afghanistan and will update the show in real time.
Victor J. Blue, Paula Bronstein, David Gilkey, Kiana Hayeri, Jim Huylebroek, Joao Silva, Marcus Yam and other photojournalists will be included in this exhibition. Photos and multimedia by David Gilkey, killed in Afghanistan in 2016 and images by Tim Hetherington, killed in action in 2010, will be included as well.
The BDC’s new URGENCY! series is a real-time response to critical worldwide events, through exhibitions and public programs. The BDC will create dialogue and education around these events as they’re happening.
The exhibition ‘URGENCY! Afghanistan’ opens on September 11, 2021
Bronx Documentary Center
614 Courtlandt Avenue, Bronx, NY 10455
