A photograph from the "Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq" exhibit at Messiah College. Click on image to download print-quality version

GRANTHAM, Pa. (Aug. 24, 2007) — The department of visual arts at Messiah College presents a photographic 60-picture display: “Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq.” Kael Alford, Thorne Anderso, Rita Leistner and Ghaith Abdul-Ahad have each spent significant time in Iraq since the start of the war, and their photography captures angles of the conflict often underrepresented in mainstream media. The Aughinbaugh Art Gallery will present “Unembedded” from Sept. 14–Oct. 21 in the Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on the college’s Grantham campus, as well as hosting an artist’s lecture on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m., during which time Alford will speak about the photographs. The exhibit and lecture are free and open to the public.

About the photojournalists

Alford’s photography experience in Iraq has spanned several years. She was one of only a few photographers working independently during the U.S. bombing of Baghdad, recording the effects of the war and its repercussions at ground level. She made another trip in 2003 to Ramadi to capture on film the resistance and its initial formation during the months following the invasion.

Anderson began photographing Iraq in October of 2002. His time in Iraq spanned 10 months, during which he crossed the front line in Najaf and photographed the fighting that took place there between the Medhi Militia and U.S. forces.

During the opening days of America’s involvement in Iraq, Leistner covered the events from the northern province of Kurdistan. She later went on to become the first freelance journalist embedded in U.S. military without any backing from a news agency. Her work has frequently taken her to a psychiatric hospital offering refuge to Iraqi women fleeing from “honor killings,” an ancient practice that, under the modern turbulence in the country, has resurfaced.

After studying architecture at Baghdad University, Abdul-Ahad lived underground in Baghdad for six years as a deserter from Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army. After the U.S. invasion, Abdul-Ahad began to operate as a journalist and photographer; many of his photographs have appeared in the “New York Times,” “The Guardian,” “Washington Post,” “Los Angeles Times” and other media outlets. He currently covers the front lines of both Shi’a and Sunni insurgency movements.

About the Aughinbaugh Art Gallery

Located on the lower level of the Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on Messiah College’s Grantham campus, the M. Louise Aughinbaugh Art Gallery exhibits the work of internationally recognized artists from around the world, as well as faculty and students. Gallery programming supplements campus classroom instruction by bringing practicing artists to campus to demonstrate techniques in classes and by organizing special evening lectures and afternoon gallery talks. The gallery also functions as a hands-on teaching laboratory for students in the college’s course on museum studies.  The Aughinbaugh Art Gallery is open Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and on Saturdays and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

About Messiah College