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"The Sacrifice" by James Nachtwey
February 17, 2007- April 24, 2007
For print sales please contact David Fahey at Fahey Klein Gallery: 323-934-2250.
There are moments, in Iraq, when the blood and suffering overwhelms, when chaos rips away the ragged veil of civilization and what appears beyond is death, relentless and unalterable. It is not easy to face this. But the doctors, nurses, medics and others charged with treating wounded US service members must work through it, push past it. They cannot let it stop them. They must save lives. And they do, each day, fueled by uncommon dedication and nerve. This is their battle, their sacrifice.
In 2003, Jim Nachtwey was injured in a grenade blast in Baghdad. In early 2006, he traveled to Iraq for the first time following his injury. He knew first-hand about the military medical process-the massive system that pulls the wounded off the battlefield, treats them, and sweeps them back to hospitals in the U.S.-and he returned to document the men and women who make it possible. After two months of fieldwork in Iraq, Jim visited hospitals in the States to record the other half of the story: the journeys of wounded soldiers and marines as they recovered and began new lives after war. The Sacrifice joins these two worlds, lifesaving and healing, and it challenges us not to look away from such powerful ideas and struggles, the kind that Jim has spent more than 20 years photographing. In the black-and-white truth of The Sacrifice, we may see the truth of war and its consequences, feel the heat of dedication and its rewards, and we may consider what heroism truly means.
by Neil Shea
Staff Writer, National Geographic Magazine
All images are Copyrighted by Jim Nachtwey.
