[Scmusenet] Vietnam War photography exhibit coming to South Carolina

[Harmon, Kaela]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 5, 2010

SC Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum features

Exhibit saluting photographers from Vietnam era

Columbia - The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum presents moving and powerful images of the Vietnam War in an exhibit titled Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina, on view from March 5 through May 29, 2010. This exhibition features 55 photographs taken by photojournalists who were killed or reported missing while covering the conflict, which began with the French Indochina War of the 1950s, and culminated with the fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon in 1975.

The photographs featured are the best of thousands gathered by Horst Faas and Tim Page, two photographers who were wounded in Vietnam. They decided that the works of famous photojournalists like Robert Capa and Larry Burrows would hang alongside those of unknown photographers who contributed significant pictures before their death.

Requiem displays images from 23 photographers representing seven countries, Britain, USA, France, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan, and Vietnam.  The photographs begin with a beautiful and peaceful landscape in the 1950s, and become increasingly more dramatic as they take us through the escalating military involvement. Among the most moving images displayed are those from the famous series "One Ride with Yankee Papa 13" by Larry Burrows which documents a mission of Marine Lance Corporal James C. Farley.  This series of photographs premiered in January 1963 as Life magazine's first major cover story about the Vietnam War and brought home the fact that American soldiers were involved in a major conflict on the other side of the globe.

Requiem is a traveling exhibit that is part of the George Eastman House permanent collection.  Since 1997 Requiem has traveled internationally to Tokyo, Hanoi, Lausanne, and London.  Showings in the United States include New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. - drawing record crowds at each venue, including veterans of the war and many young people who were not yet born when the war ended.  The SC Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum has selected the best of these images to exhibit for the first time in Columbia, South Carolina.

Requiem is the first Vietnam War exhibit shown by the Confederate Relic Room and director Allen Roberson says that it was important for the museum to bring such a significant body of work to the Palmetto State.  "The conflict in Vietnam affected the lives of many contemporary South Carolinians and is a critical story in our state's military history.  This exhibit opens in early March on the 45th Anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. ground war in Vietnam and is a precursor to a planned major exhibit on South Carolina and Vietnam planned for the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War in 2015."

Images Attached: Huynh Thanh My, (Vietnamese, 1937-1965), Mekong Delta, 1965; Larry Burrows (British, 1926-1971), "Da Nang, vietnam, 1965," In a supply shack, the tragic and frustrating mission over, Crew Chief James Farley weeps. Photographer Huynh Thanh My (Vietnamese, 1937-1965) Mekong Delta, 1965  Images Courtesy Horst Faas and Tim Page, provided by George Eastman House.

-30-

"Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina was organized by Horst Faas and Tim Page and toured by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film"

Founded in 1896, the SC Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is the oldest museum in the Columbia area. The museum focuses on South Carolina's military history from the Revolutionary War to the present War on Terror.
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