Conflict, Time, Photography, Tate Modern

War is a reoccurring blemish on the face of human history, inextricably tied into our past, present and almost without a doubt our future. The majority of us are fortunate enough to only digest the nature of conflict through the mediums of photography, film and literature, which inevitably affects our understanding of war and its consequences.

‘Conflict, Time, Photography’ – Tate Modern

Timed to coincide with the World War I centenary, ‘Conflict, Time, Photography’ at Tate Modern brings together a broad range of photographs and photographers, varied in time, space and subject. The purpose of the exhibition is to examine the impact of images in relation to time. For example, how does the gravitas of a photograph taken only weeks after the atomic bombs fell on Japan compare with that of an image of the same place captured at the start of this century? Keep your eyes peeled for repeating themes of ruination, reconstruction and the human cost of conflict. 

Intriguingly photographs will be ordered according to how much time lies between their capture and their subject. For instance, images taken weeks after the end of the American Civil War will be displayed next to those captured weeks after the fall of Saigon. While this might seem confusing in terms of mix-and-match subject matter, it could not be more suited to the exhibition’s purpose: to explore the three-way relationship between photography, conflict and time. 

Archive of Modern Conflict, London

As part of the show, a special room in Tate Modern will also be set aside for the Archive of Modern Conflict to display aspects of its impressive private collection. 

This mini-exhibition is undoubtedly set to shake up our notions of memory and war.