James Nachtwey // "There has always been war. War is raging throughout the world at the present moment. And there is little reason to believe that war will cease to exist in the future. As man has become increasingly civilized, his means of destroying his fellow man have become ever more efficient, cruel and devastating... Is it possible to put an end to a form of human behaviour which has existed throughout history by means of photography? The proportions of that notion seem ridiculously out of balance. Yet, that very idea has motivated me. For me, the strength of photography lies in its ability to evoke a sense of humanity. If war is an attempt to negate humanity, then photography can be perceived as the opposite of war and if it is used well it can be a powerful ingredient in the antidote to war... It has occurred to me that if everyone could be there just once to see for themselves...what unspeakable pain is caused by the impact of a single bullet or how a jagged piece of shrapnel can rip someone's leg off...if everyone could be there to see for themselves the fear and the grief, just one time, then they would understand that nothing is worth letting things get to the point where that happens to even one person, let alone thousands. But everyone cannot be there, and that is why photographers go there...to show them, to reach out and grab them and make them stop what they are doing and pay attention to what is going on...to create pictures powerful enough to overcome the diluting effects of the mass media and shake people out of their indifference...to protest and by the strength of that protest to make others protest."