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Indepth Arts News: "The VII Photo Agency and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Present New Photographs from War-Torn Democratic Republic of the Congo" 2006-04-06 until 2006-05-06 Stephen Cohen Gallery Los Angeles, CA, USA United States of America
The opening reception for the artists will include short informational
talks by representatives from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans
Frontières and photographer Ron Haviv. Books will be available for
purchase at the event. In addition, attendees will have an opportunity
to make donations to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières to
support their humanitarian efforts and ensure that their invaluable work
is continued.
More than a decade of war and the collapse of the public health system
have resulted in widespread and acute misery for people throughout the
DRC. Many Congolese face extreme deprivation and violence, with brutal
militia attacks and sexual violence common. Severe malnutrition and
epidemics of diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and cholera take an even
greater toll as few people have access to health facilities let alone
treatment. The complex and diverse nature of the violence and neglect
challenges any notion of simple, blanket solutions to address even the
immediate causes of so much death and suffering.
"Today the world only seems to be able to focus on one or two events at
a time. Over the past years, the DRC has never been one of them," said
VII photographer Ron Haviv. "By becoming aware of the staggering human
toll in the DRC, it was obvious for us at VII to try to help change
that. We hope that through this work we can raise the awareness of
what is happening and that all who see the work will want to help
change an ever worsening situation."
During the past year, the northeastern region of Ituri has been an
epicenter of violence, with multiple factions fighting for the control
of the area's resources. Photographers Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, and
James Nachtwey all documented the Bon Marché Hospital in Bunia city in
Ituri, where MSF teams offer medical care for victims of violence in
the region. Sexual violence is especially prevalent in Ituri – MSF
treated more than 3,500 rape survivors since June 2003. A flare-up in
fighting this past spring throughout Ituri prompted emergency medical
interventions in four displacement camps in Tchomia, Kakwa, Tche, and
Gina. VII photographer Haviv also traveled with MSF teams to two of
these camps to photograph the intolerable situation for the more than
80,000 civilians who have sought safety in them.
Insecurity is also widespread in North Kivu, where photographer James
Nachtwey accompanied MSF teams providing basic medical care,
specialized care for malnourished children, and treatment for victims
of sexual violence.
HIV/AIDS is also a key health emergency in DRC. VII's Antonin Kratochvil
photographed in the town of Bukavu, South Kivu, where MSF is providing
nearly 500 people living with HIV/AIDS with free antiretroviral (ARV)
medicines. In a second HIV/AIDS project, in the capital Kinshasa, where
VII photographer Joachim Ladefoged traveled, more than 1300 people
living with HIV/AIDS receive free ARV treatment from MSF and MSF
carries out community health work with commercial sex workers in the
city.
"The grim reality of life in many areas of the DRC has become
commonplace, a kind of normalization of the unacceptable," said Nicolas
de Torrente, Executive Director of MSF in the United States. "There is
so much need that it is a struggle to do anything other than respond to
the most serious emergencies. What strikes me most about the plight of
the Congolese people is how their unbearable situation is virtually
invisible to the world beyond their village. These photographs go
behind the headlines and offer glimpses of the strength and suffering
of ordinary people – reminding us, and the world at large, that we must
refuse to let the unacceptable become normal."
About VII Photo Agency
About Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
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Five world-renowned photographers
from the VII Photo Agency – Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil,
Joachim Ladefoged, and James Nachtwey – traveled to the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) from May through August of 2005 with the
international humanitarian organization Doctors Without
Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in order to shed light on the
suffering of the Congolese people as they struggle to survive a war
that remains virtually invisible to the outside world. Their work is
presented in Democratic Republic of the Congo: Forgotten War and in a
new book by the same name, published by de.MO. The exhibition, which
will tour throughout United States, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe
this year, arrives at the Stephen Cohen Gallery, located at 7358 Beverly
Boulevard in Los Angeles on April 6, 2006.
