Seems years ago since we posted the article on Don McCullin's retrospective show at IWM North, oh wait, it was years ago. Anyway we went to see the show now on at
IWM in London. The show has great staging - huge enlargements of portraits bisect the gallery and the walls are crowded with original images and contemporary magazine spreads. The video interview is enlightening and the overall experience leaves the visitor in no doubt that they have had insight into the career of McCullin and maybe vicariously experienced a very small part of the trauma and pain of McCullin's subjects. We're not sure if we have any greater understanding of what drove McCullin to put himself in harms way so frequently - he was wounded a number of times, notably in Cambodia in 1970, and there does seem to be a sense of the
gung ho and an exhilaration about some of the situations and images he made as a result. Our original post is still available under the 2010 section- see right.
Don McCullin’s Nikon F camera, damaged by a bullet at Prey Veng, Cambodia, 1970. Copyright Don McCullin
The show in London closes on the 15th of April and is highly recommended. A monograph / catalogue of McCullin's show
Shaped by War is well worth buying and a copy is now in the College Library.
McCullin is also on show at Tate Britain and the link will take you to a videocast on the
Tate site. This show is on until the 4th of March 2012.
