The photographs in this section are from the expressive iWITNESS exhibition by photojournalist Tom Stoddart. The exhibition displayed more than 70 black and white photographs taken over 10 years. The exhibition is a witness to some of the most intense humanitarian disasters the world has seen. The photographs depicts some of the most tragic consequences of the famine in Sudan, the siege of Sarajevo, ‘exodus’- the situation of refugees from Rwanda, ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, the floods in Mozambique, the earthquake in Gujurat, north-western India of 2001, 911, the Royal Marines in Iraq and the ‘Scourge’ of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa.
Some of the images are uncompromising and uncomfortable viewing, yet are a testimony of the courage and survival of the individual within the story. Stoddart in his introduction to the exhibition (see www.tomstoddart.com/iwitness.html ), states:
“The people portrayed in the photographs are heroes: innocent people trapped and battered by circumstances beyond their control.”
“Most of the events chronicled here can be attributed directly to mankind’s greed, intolerance, prejudice, inhumanity, lust for political power, and sheer stupidity… Don’t feel sorry when you look at these pictures – feel angry that we need to be reminded of such folly. It is sad but necessary that these photographs exist.”
Note: From December 3rd 2004 to January 30th 2005, the iWITNESS exhibition was brought to Ireland in association with Concern Worldwide.
Final Preparations. Dawn at Chunga Cemetery where Serelino Banda is one of the 126 grave diggers who bury around 50 people every day, many of them killed by AIDS. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Lest We Forget – Africa’s AIDS Crisis, Malawi 2000. In a Malawi Village, a traveling theatre group performs a play warning about the dangers of having sex without a condom. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Lest We Forget -Africa’s AIDS Crisis. Mwaza Tanzania, May 2002. Janet John 23, who is sick and weakened by AIDS pictured at home in Mwanza, Tanzania. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Lest We Forget -Africa’s AIDS Crisis. Glendale Zimbabwe, August 2000. Chipo Maponga, 35, contracted HIV while working as a Teacher in Harare and returned to her home village to fight the disease with the help of her family. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Chilanga, Zambia August 2000. A young woman weakened by AIDS photographed at the Mother of Mercy Hospital in Chilanga, Zambia. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Chiradzulu, Malawi. October 2000. A woman patient ill with HIV/AIDS pictured at the Chiradzulu District hospital in Malawi. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Lest We Forget – Africa’s AIDS Crisis, May 2002 A Maasai couple who are both HIV positive outside their home near Arusha Tanzania.
Lest We Forget – Africa’s AIDS Crisis, May 2002 A young Maasai man who is HIV positive photographed in front of Mount Kilimanjaro near Arusha, Tanzania. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Anatasia Protas who is ill with AIDS, pictured with her husband, Budaga, at their home in Mwanza, Tanzania. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Lest We Forget – Africa’s AIDS Crisis, Harare Zimbabwe. Grandmother Mbuya Nanini cares for eleven children orphaned by the AIDS Virus. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Water Works. Bath time at Montgomery Heights Orphanage, Zimbabwe. The orphanage is run by the Voice of Triumph Ministries Inc., and cares for some of the 14 million African children whose parents have died during the AIDS Crisis. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Homa Bay, Kenya 2000. Relatives pray around the bed of a dying man in Homa Bay District hospital, Kenya where 80 percent of those admitted are suffering from AIDS related diseases. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Royal Marines from 539 Assault Squadron have been under fire during a night time patrol and have just been told that one of their comrades has been killed. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Target practice on the remote Bubiyan Island for the Royal Marines of 539 Assault Squadron prior to beginning their mission to secure the waterways in Southern Iraq during the 2003 conflict. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Amazement and grief on the face of a New Yorker at the scene of the 9/11 attack in 2001. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Back to Wall Street – New York. A scene on the morning that wall street returned to work after the attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Back to Wall Street – New York. As they return to work, Wall Street employees pass newspapers carrying ‘wanted’ posters of Osama Bin Laden after the 9/11 attack on New York 2001. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
New York 9/11. Disbelief for a New Yorker as he surveys the scene at Ground Zero. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Commemorative 9/11 t-shirts on sale in Times Square NY only three days after the 9/11 attack on New York in 2001.
New York 9/11. New Yorkers stand motionless and silent on board the first Staten Island ferry approaching Manhattan after the World Trade Center attack on September 11th 2001. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
New York 9/11. New Yorkers search the ‘missing’ posters around the National Guard Armoury in lower Manhattan after the attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Flood Victims – Chokwe, Mozambique 2000. After escaping the rising water, people shelter from the rain in the upper floor of a half built house when Mozambique was engulfed by floods. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Feeding Refugees – Kukes, Albania April 1999. In the Albanian border town of Kukes, bread is thrown to hungry refugees recently ‘cleansed’ from their homes in Kosovo. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Burial Grief – Kosovo June 1999. Kosavar Albania women, overcome with grief, bury their men killed by Serb forces in 1999. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Serbian Graffiti on a wall in Kosovo (1999). ‘Killing is my business and business is good’. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Serb Forces – Pristina, Kosovo June 1999. Serb forces withdraw out of Kosovo and back to Belgrade after an extensive NATO bombing campaign in 1999. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Rwandan Refugees, Goma 1994. Women refugees carrying of what remains of their possessions, arrive at Kibumba Camp, Goma, after crossing the border out of Rwanda. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Rwandan Refugees, Goma. Disorientated parents try to protect their children during the cholera outbreak, which killed thousands of people in Goma, Zaire (DRC), after one million fled from Rwanda in 1994. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Basketball in Sarajevo (1992). Children playing basketball in the burnt out district of Sarajevo during a break in the shelling. Copyright © Tom Stoddard
War Games – Sarajevo 1992. Children use empty ammunition boxes as they play Serb against Bosnian during a break in the shelling at Sarajevo in 1992. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Family & Fighter Sarajevo – 1993 Before leaving to join his comrades on the frontline, Bosnian fighter Hamzia Sejad kisses his 6-week old daughter, Vanessa, goodbye in 1993.
Sarajevo Requiem – Sarajevo 1992. Celloist Vedran Smalovic breaks down in tears after playing a requiem to a dead friend in Hero’s Cemetery where Bosnian fighters were buried during the siege of Sarajevo. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
People running to avoid sharpshooters as they cross Sniper’s Alley. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
At the Ajiep feeding centre in Southern Sudan – as one life ends, another is beginning. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Famine Sudan: The hungry run to recover food from a World Food Programme airdrop. Each flight drops enouth food to feed 40,000 starving people for 1 day in Sudan (1998). Copyright © Tom Stoddart
Famine Sudan: It was estimated (1998) that it cost the UN US$28,000 for each air drop, and over US$21 million a month to deliver food into one of the most remote areas of Sudan. Copyright © Tom Stoddart
