Image Capture: Don McCullin

Imperial War Museum North hosts another special photography exhibition this spring, one that charts the life and career of Don McCullin. For 50 years, McCullin has produced some of the most definitive images of modern warfare, becoming a highly acclaimed photographer in the process (he has been described in The Guardian as ‘one of the world’s best living war photographers’).

The man himself is something of a legend. The former Teddy Boy tearaway could often be found on the frontline, capturing scenes of war as they occurred, while the list of conflicts he has documented is dizzying: Cyprus, the Congo, Czechoslovakia, Vietnam, Biafra, Venezuela, Pakistan, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Northern Ireland, Chad, Cambodia.

During his early career, McCullin focused on the casualties of war, once claiming that he wanted to ‘break the hearts and minds of secure people’ and yet, despite this, his work remains startlingly beautiful. The viewer can’t help but admire the aesthetic qualities of his images, even when they show the dead and dying. As such, McCullin’s work poses serious questions about the moral dilemma the photographer (and perhaps the viewer) faces: should he stay behind the camera, looking on, or should he put the camera down and help?

This exhibition at Imperial War Museum North, timed to mark McCullin’s 75th year, provides an intimate insight into the thought process behind these iconic and moving images of war. Alongside some 200 photographs are contact sheets, magazines and memorabilia (some items are on public display for the first time), while many of the black and white images have been printed by McCullin himself. His 18 years as a photojournalist for The Sunday Times are examined along with documents from the Imperial War Museum’s Archive that explain McCullin’s controversial exclusion from the 1982 Falklands war. In these papers, the Imperial War Museum makes the case for McCullin to be sent to cover the Falklands as its official photographer – the Ministry of Defence, presumably nervous of McCullin’s uncompromising honesty, refused to allow him access. Although McCullin’s last major war assignment for The Sunday Times was in Beirut in 1982, he has continued to document major conflicts such as the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Read Jessica Lack’s exclusive interview with Don McCullin, and find out more about the incredible images and terrible situations that shaped his career.

Shaped by War: Photographs by Don McCullin, Imperial War Museum North, The Quays, Trafford Wharf, Trafford Park M17 1TZ (0161 836 4000). Until 13 June. Open: 10am-6pm daily. Free.

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