Ben Lowy

Sudan

 

November 30, 2004 - January 11, 2005.


 

Artist Statement

In early 2003 Ethnic African Sudanese rebels calling themselves the Sudan Liberation Army attacked an outpost of the Arab Sudanese government in a protest over the mistreatment and neglect in the Darfur region of Western Sudan. In response the Sudan government armed, funded, and mobilized Arab "self-defence militias," which are accused of carrying out atrocities against local black Africans.

As the violence grew, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled across the border into neighboring Chad, a long and arduous trek from a region three times the size of France. A massive humanitarian disaster, not seen on the worldwide stage since the genocide in Rwanda began to develop while the world's attention was focused on the events in Iraq and the Middle East. Up until now 70 thousand have been killed and millions displaced.

 

 

 

After traveling to the Concentration camps in Germany and Poland this summer, I decided that I needed to see, to experience what a "genocide" was. What it looked like, and what it meant to be part of a world that let it happen. I was 15 when the events in Rwanda took place, and they barely impacted my life, because no one in our school system really cared enough to make it a point.So I went to Darfur to understand, and to see. I spent half my time split between the UNHCR refugee camps along the massive border of Chad and Sudan, and half my time inside Darfur with the SLA - going from town to burnt town, mass grave to battle site.

This is what I saw.

www.benlowy.com

 


Artist Bio

Benjamin Lowy (b.1979) New York-based Lowy has covered such major stories as the Washington DC sniper case and the ongoing conflicts in Israel, Iraq and Haiti. He has been on assignment for Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Rolling Stone, and National Geographic Adventure magazines and his work has also appeared in Stern, CNN, WCBS, PBS, as well as in numerous books. He recently completed the World Press Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands.

Photography series curated by Michelle Jackson
 

Michelle Jackson has been curating
the Half King Photojournalism/Documentary Photography
show since January 2004.

 

Previous exhibitions at The Half King
THE PEOPLE OF PROTEST by PAUL PARK
JUAREZ, CITY OF MISSING WOMEN by TIMOTHY FADEK
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC by SPENCER PLATT
EYEBLINK by JAMES WENDELL
CONFESSIONS OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER by JULIA CALFEE
HARVEST by JEFFREY LAMONT BROWN
WAR IN LEBANON by PAOLO PELLEGRIN
IN THE SHADOW OF POWER by KIKE ARNAL
CYCLE OF VIOLENCE by SHAUL SCHWARZ
THE OUTCASTS OF SLOVAKIA by JULIE DENESHA
AFGHANISTAN EMBEDDED by TEUN VOETEN
NEW ORLEANS: WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE by MARIO TAMA
VANISHING GIANTS by JENNIFER HILE
ONE IN A BILLION by DAVID BUTOW
EDGE OF PERFECTION by DAVID BURNETT
MAKASUTU
by JASON FLORIO
PYONGYANG DESIGN by TEUN VOETEN
SUDAN by BEN LOWY
HOMELAND by MICHAEL WILLIAMSON & DALE MAHARIDGE
WATER CULTURE by BRENT STIRTON
AÏNA PHOTOJOURNALISM INSTITUTE OF AFGHANISTAN
CAMBODIA'S LOST BOYZ by TERU KUWAYAMA
WAR ZONES by MIKE KAMBER
LIBERIA BY CHRIS HONDROS
BERLIN BY ESTHER LEVINE
LONGING BY GREG DWYER
CORN BY GREGORY THORP
CAKE & HOTDOGS and WILD WEEKEND WOMEN BY ANDREANNA LYNN SEYMORE
ATHLETES BY SCOTT McDERMOTT
HAVANA PASSAGE BY TARA SGROI
ABOVE AND BELOW THE PAVEMENT BY SERGE J-F LEVY
 

For further information on these exhibits, please go here.