Every atrocity must have its images, otherwise the
world does not respond. Atrocities without photographs
tend to be forgotten in our image-dominated reality
the photographers role remains crucial in making sure
we bear witness. Trisha Ziff, Curator of Hidden Truths
Hidden Truths: Bloody Sunday 1972 probes one of the
great tragedies of recent Irish-Anglo history, the
shooting of Irish civil rights protestors by British
soldiers in Derry, Northern Ireland on Sunday, January
30, 1972. On view at the International Center of
Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd
Street from January 11 through March 17, 2002, this
powerful exhibition addresses both the incident itself
as well as the role of photography as witness within
our culture.
THIRTY years ago, British soldiers opened fire on a
peaceful protest march, killing thirteen civilians.
The events of that day, which became known as "Bloody
Sunday," are a watershed in Irish politics since they
transformed what was an optimistic civil rights
movement into an armed insurgency. But Bloody Sunday
was not just another demonstration that went wrong. In
terms of the history of documentary photography and
photojournalism, it is one of the most photographed
events of its time. This exhibition focuses on the way
that eighteen different photographers recorded that
day from a variety of perspectives, including the work
of visiting international photojournalists, local
amateur picture takers, and frightened residents.
The images made on Bloody Sunday recorded the events
of that day, but did nothing to change the numbers of
dead and injured or to alter the political fallout.
Even the tremendous international press coverage of
Bloody Sunday, examples of which appear in the
exhibition and the subsequent British governmental
inquiry tended to affirm the status quo. This
exhibition looks pointedly at the extent to which
political leaders and the media can determine the
reading of an event through strategic uses of
photography. Hidden Truths is unique in bringing
together public and the personal views of Bloody
Sunday. Curator Trisha Ziff has gathered both classic
media images of the events, by such photographers as
Fulvio Grimaldi, Gilles Peress, Robert White, and Fred
Hoare, as well as personal photographs from the
families of those who were killed that day. The
exhibition also includes a virtual recreation of the
Bogside in Derry, where the events of Bloody Sunday
took place. Bringing together published and
unpublished photographs, artifacts, sound, and film,
the exhibition provides a full documentation of the
dramatic events, which remain topical to this day.
Bloody Sunday is unfinished business. After an initial
inquiry in 1972, the British government issued the
Widgery Report, which acquitted the British soldiers
of all responsibility in the killings. In 1998, as a
result of twenty-six years of campaigning by the
relatives of those killed for a new inquiry, British
Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered the case reopened,
the first time that has happened in English history.
That new inquiry is now in its fourth year; many of
the images in this exhibition are currently being used
as testimony.
To see more photographs of Bloody Sunday, please visit
 http://www.geocities.com/bloodysunday1972