Don McCullin
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I chose Don McCullin’s photos for Penelope and Ulysses because his war photography speaks of human loss and suffering with deep compassion for those caught up in the war.
It is my vision for the production of the play to use his photos in the Agamemnon section of the play to point out that it is the same war we keep having generation after generation, and although the Agamemnon section in Penelope and Ulysses is set in Troy, it still the same war, it is still the same suffering, loss and death. I thank him for his generosity of spirit and his great love for humanity that has made him one of the keepers of such deep loss and human suffering so that the rest of us will see it, feel it, and have the courage to insist on change for humanity: for our kindred and the stranger. As Don McCullen says in his interview (see video link below), "It is our responsibility to look," so that we may change the course of our history, present and future. At some time we need to evolve as human beings and realise that we all need and desire to live on this earth in the limited time that we have. Our human right is to live in harmony and peace, with our families and with our neighbours. It is our human right as people to support and protect each other from such war horrors. They do exist, and Don McCullin’s photography seeks our attention and insists on our responsibilities, as a human being on this earth, to think, feel the suffering and do something proactive to assist in the healing and awareness of our unity and responsibility to each other and for each other. I would like to thank Don McCullin for giving me permission to show his war photography in my production of Penelope and Ulysses. Watch an important Youtube video of Don McCullin here. Read an interview with Don McCullin in The Guardian newspaper here. Read Don McCullin's Wikipedia page here. |
“Photography for me is not looking, it's feeling. If you can't feel that you're looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”
Don McCullin, 'Sleeping with Ghosts: A life's work in photography' |
