Mulva Cultural Center; Exhibits- The Camera Goes to War: Vietnam

This path-breaking exhibition celebrates the brave photojournalists who documented the Vietnam War. A diverse group, they hailed from countries as far-flung as Germany, Japan, England, New Zealand, and the United States as well as Vietnam itself. They represented all the major photo publishers and agencies of the day: Time Life, United Press International (UPI), Magnum, and most notably the Associated Press (AP). Their involvement spanned decades, from the French-Indochina conflict in 1945-54 to the final helicopter evacuation of the American embassy in Saigon in 1975. They memorialized not only the war itself but also its impact on the home front, including anti-war protests and the mixed reception accorded veterans as they returned home.

Unlike earlier war photographers such as Roger Fenton, who chronicled the Crimean War, Mathew Brady (the Civil War), and Edward Steichen (the two World Wars), photographers in Vietnam enjoyed unfettered access to all theaters of war. Combined with breakthroughs in photo transmission (“wire”) technology, this access gave their work an immediacy that helped turn American public opinion against the war and thus bring out its eventual end. But this access also proved deadly: 135 photojournalists perished in Indochina.