The haunted war photographer

Don McCullin has seen humanity at its worst and its best, said Jessamy Calkin in The Daily Telegraph (U.K.). The British photographer, now 77, spent most of his professional life traveling from war zone to war zone, covering some of the 20th century’s most brutal conflicts. The experience cost him his first marriage and left him with memories that torment him to this day: people skinned alive in Congo and murdered with sledgehammers in Uganda; a starving albino boy in Biafra, who could barely walk yet followed him around, trying to hold his hand; a Scottish mercenary who had been imprisoned in Zaire and set out to shoot an African for every day he had spent behind bars. “For every great day I have, I know I have to share it with these horrible, bloody stories,” he says. Yet in the midst of all that, there was beauty, too. “A lot of people would say, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ But there is beauty in war. It’s never far away; even if it’s the last thing you imagine, you will see it. I’ve seen black and white men crying over each other’s demises, men tenderly cradling the wounded, and caring. That’s what beauty is all about. It’s not about trees or sunsets, it’s about human depth.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up