Ash Gilbertson’s photos of Iraq.

Posted byWaldo Jaquith 3 Comments on Ash Gilbertson’s photos of Iraq.

At VQR we’re providing Ashley Gilbertson’s “Last Photographs” as a preview of our summer issue. Gilbertson is a seasoned Iraq War photographer, and the photo essay is a chilling and revealing account of his most recent visit there. He was interviewed about the essay on “Fresh Air” last week, and we had him in town to present his work at the Festival of the Photograph a week ago. This article is getting a lot of link love from around the ‘net today, especially on reddit, where it’s currently ranked #5.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

3 replies on “Ash Gilbertson’s photos of Iraq.”

  1. This is a great story, with a quality one doesn’t often get from reddit/Digg/et al. However, the author’s conclusion is very depressing:

    Covering the war used to make me feel like I was doing something important, but I have grown to accept that Americans will not stop dying because I take their pictures; sectarian violence won’t end because I photographed one woman’s death; and abuse won’t stop because I witnessed the aftermath of one interrogation.

    Of course, he’s right.

    In addition to this story, there are two more articles about TSA officials overstepping their boundaries on reddit’s home page, plus another story about that RNC email scandal… and I’d consider today a good day. Yet despite the deluge of articles and the information sharing the Internet now allows, are these stories, blogs, photos, etc. doing any good? Do we really yet more evidence of a situation gone horribly awry when we’re acknowledging that they don’t do anything?

    I’m not saying we should forget the past, but if preserving history are the best weapons we have against the problems and corruption of our government today, we’re in trouble. And the leaders we put into office last November don’t seem to be up to the job, so I’m very often stymied as to how we can help change directions.

    Basically, I’m just so very tired of being saddened by tales like these.

  2. Holy shit… that’s powerful. Unfortunately, I think the only people who are going to read it are those who are already against the war. At the very least, it should be required reading for every member of Congress.

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