A War Photographer on the Limits of Bearing Witness

"When Peter van Agtmael went to Iraq in 2006 to embed with the U.S. military, he was 24 years old and confident that his pictures could help end an unjust war. Two decades later, after documenting combat deaths overseas and then turning his camera lens on America, he's learned the limits of what photography can do. In this episode, Peter talks about the emotional toll of bearing witness to violence, the fraught ethics of choosing a subject, and how he ended up in a legal battle with Ye over an image."

"When Peter van Agtmael started taking pictures, he believed he could end wars by exposing their brutality. Decades later, the biggest change has been within himself."

A photographer began his career convinced that exposing wartime brutality could end unjust wars. He embedded with U.S. forces in Iraq at 24 and documented combat deaths overseas. He later focused his camera on America and confronted ethically fraught choices about subjects, including a controversial 2015 KKK wedding photograph. Bearing witness to violence produced a heavy emotional toll and lasting personal change. Legal consequences arose from a dispute over an image with Ye. A book titled Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home and an exhibition at the Corcoran accompany the work.

Read at Slate Magazine