I Witness
Published on 2. March 2004
Book
Hardback
367 pages
978-1-904563-29-7 (ISBN)
Description
As one of the world's most respected photojournalists, Tom Stoddart has brought us intensely personal images from across the globe, documenting nearly every major event of the past 20 years that has afflicted human kind. War, famine, AIDS: these are just some of the human plights he has captured, with his unique ability to see the world in peril whilst refusing to believe that human beings can only exist in conflict with each other and their surroundings.
During a long and distinguished career in photojournalism Tom Stoddart has documented many of the world's most incredible events including the scourge of famine and AIDS in Africa, the strife of civil war in the Balkans and the monumental destruction of a superpower in Iraq.
iWITNESS is as much a celebration of Stoddart's exceptional career as a photojournalist as it is a merciless diatribe on the day to day business of how the world conducts itself. This is an intensely personal view by an observer who refuses to believe that human beings can only exist in conflict with each other and the environment they inhabit. This book is published in association with the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), marking their 40th anniversary.
DEC is an umbrella organisation which launches and co-ordinates the UK's National Appeal in response to major disasters overseas. It enables the British public to support the following aid agencies as they respond to overseas emergencies: Action Aid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern, Help the Aged, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.
During a long and distinguished career in photojournalism Tom Stoddart has documented many of the world's most incredible events including the scourge of famine and AIDS in Africa, the strife of civil war in the Balkans and the monumental destruction of a superpower in Iraq.
iWITNESS is as much a celebration of Stoddart's exceptional career as a photojournalist as it is a merciless diatribe on the day to day business of how the world conducts itself. This is an intensely personal view by an observer who refuses to believe that human beings can only exist in conflict with each other and the environment they inhabit. This book is published in association with the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), marking their 40th anniversary.
DEC is an umbrella organisation which launches and co-ordinates the UK's National Appeal in response to major disasters overseas. It enables the British public to support the following aid agencies as they respond to overseas emergencies: Action Aid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern, Help the Aged, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.
More details
Person
Tom Stoddart began his photographic career with a provincial newspaper in his native North East of England. In 1978 he moved to London and, working freelance, started to regularly supply national newspapers and magazines. During the eighties he worked extensively for the Sunday Times newspaper. During 1982 he was in Beirut when the Israeli forces bombed Yasser Arafat's besieged PLO base. Five years later he was back in Beirut shooting a world exclusive on the horrific conditions inside the Palestinian camp of Borj el Barajneh, where Dr. Pauline Cutting was trapped.
In July 1991 Stoddart travelled to Sarajevo to document the civil war that was engulfing Yugoslavia. The work from Sarajevo was published across the world. Returning a year later for The Sunday Times Magazine, Tom was seriously injured in heavy fighting around the Bosnian Parliament buildings.
After a year of recovery he returned to photojournalism with a feature on the aftermath of the Mississippi floods and, later that year, an award-winning photo-essay on the harsh regime for the training of Chinese Olympic Child Gymnasts.
In December 1993 Stoddart returned to Sarajevo to report on the hardship of life in the city during a freezing winter under siege. The trip confirmed his fascination with a city that he was to return to on a dozen different occasions until the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995.
In 1997 Tony Blair gave Stoddart exclusive access for three months to document his election campaign as Labour swept to victory after 18 years of Conservative government.
In 2012 his 'Perspectives' retrospective outdoor exhibition at London's South Bank during the Olympic Games attracted 225,000 visitors and in 2020 ACC Arts Books published Tom's book 'Extraordinary Women'; a photographic collection that salutes the strength and resilience of women through times of war, poverty and hardship with a foreword written by Angelina Jolie. Images from the book were screened at Visa Pour L'image, the world's biggest international festival of photojournalism at Perpignan, France. The book includes War on Women, an essay by Marie Colvin. He died in 2021.
In July 1991 Stoddart travelled to Sarajevo to document the civil war that was engulfing Yugoslavia. The work from Sarajevo was published across the world. Returning a year later for The Sunday Times Magazine, Tom was seriously injured in heavy fighting around the Bosnian Parliament buildings.
After a year of recovery he returned to photojournalism with a feature on the aftermath of the Mississippi floods and, later that year, an award-winning photo-essay on the harsh regime for the training of Chinese Olympic Child Gymnasts.
In December 1993 Stoddart returned to Sarajevo to report on the hardship of life in the city during a freezing winter under siege. The trip confirmed his fascination with a city that he was to return to on a dozen different occasions until the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995.
In 1997 Tony Blair gave Stoddart exclusive access for three months to document his election campaign as Labour swept to victory after 18 years of Conservative government.
In 2012 his 'Perspectives' retrospective outdoor exhibition at London's South Bank during the Olympic Games attracted 225,000 visitors and in 2020 ACC Arts Books published Tom's book 'Extraordinary Women'; a photographic collection that salutes the strength and resilience of women through times of war, poverty and hardship with a foreword written by Angelina Jolie. Images from the book were screened at Visa Pour L'image, the world's biggest international festival of photojournalism at Perpignan, France. The book includes War on Women, an essay by Marie Colvin. He died in 2021.