Mercredi 04 Février 2015 11:18:56 par actuphoto dans Expositions

Tony O'Brien went on assignment to Jordan in 2013 with Relief International, a humanitarian organization. He wanted to photograph the plight of the Syrian refugees fleeing from Syria because of the ongoing civil war. Now in its fourth year, the war has forcibly displaced roughly 3.8 million people in the region and approximately 600,000 have taken refuge in Jordan. They live in refugee camps, makeshift settlements, and cities and towns throughout the country, trying to reconstruct their lives back to some kind of normalcy. Tony titled the exhibition, Sketches from Syria, and it includes photographs and assorted excerpts from interviews taken during the photographer's time in Jordan at Zaatari refugee camp and other locations.

© Tony O'brien - Untitled (2013)

"During my visit, I sensed the hopelessness that was settling in among the refugees. What was to be a short conflict now has no end in sight. Repeatedly, I heard that their primary concern was for the wellbeing and future of their children and their children's education"

The photographs in the exhibition include portraits of the refugees, as well as the context in which they live. The viewer sees that the refugee community is what they are now calling home. The children's education will occur within the confines of the camps, the primitive water lines created in the parched earth may be the source of water for many more years, and people will continue to construct shops and sell their wares here. It is an amazing display of the human condition and how we strive for preservation in times of duress.

© Tony O'brien - Untitled (2013)

Tony has always been a compassionate documentary photographer. Whether photographing Afghan guerillas, soldiers in the Iraqi war, children from war-torn countries, or prostitutes on the streets of Washington D.C., O'Brien has a soft-spoken sensibility that make his subjects feel comfortable. He is able to capture such difficult situations with grace and thoughtful composition. He listens to his subjects and translates their plights into powerful imagery.

Many of these refugees Tony encountered left their homes abruptly with practically nothing in their pockets and horrible memories from their plight. Tony says of this :
I listened to individual stories, asking each person what was the most important possession they brought with them; many showed me pictures on their phones of family and life in Syria before the war.

© Tony O'brien - Untitled (2013)

An excerpt from the exhibition reads :
Razan is a busy woman. In Syria, the mother of four was a nurse and owned a small clothing boutique. Last year, she and her husband took her children, six-year-old twin boys, their five-year old boy, their baby girl, and fled the besieged city of Homs fearing for their lives. "Some of my family in Homs are hostages or in prison," she said. At first, she insisted that the only thing she cared to take with her was the children. Then she remembered that at the last minute she had been able to grab a miniature Quran; she says it gives her the strength and courage to face the future.