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Specialist Tad Donoho, Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan
Specialist Tad Donoho, Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan

Specialist Tad Donoho, Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan

Artist Tim Hetherington British, 1970–2011
Date2008
MediumDigital C-print
Dimensionspaper: 36 1/2 × 51 1/2 in. (92.7 × 130.8 cm)
image: 30 × 45 in. (76.2 × 114.3 cm)
frame: 37 1/2 × 52 1/2 × 2 1/4 in. (95.3 × 133.4 × 5.7 cm)
ClassificationsPhotography
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Friends of Photography
Object number2012.12
On View
Not on view
Label TextHetherington, an award-winning photographer and filmmaker, spent much of his life documenting political upheaval in West Africa and the Middle East. Between 2007 and 2008, he was embedded with U.S. Army soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in northeastern Afghanistan.

This photograph is an unvarnished portrayal of a soldier’s agony. The image humanizes the soldier and allows the viewer to empathize and consider the uncertainty, stress, and physical toll of combat in Afghanistan. As Hetherington said, "We share a huge visual memory bank, mostly through painting and other images in history. I think when a modern photograph taps into those, sometimes very subliminally, it makes people respond."

Hetherington was killed in 2011 while covering conflict in Misurata, Libya.
[L. Dougherty, 2023]
ProvenanceCreated Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan, 2008; collection of the artist; [Yossi Milo Gallery, Inc., New York]; sold to NCMA, 2012.Exhibition HistoryBlowing Rock, NC, Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, “Transformation,” March 20–August 21, 2021.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection Reimagined," December 4, 2023-June 4, 2024.


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