Best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage апа enterprise
AWARD YEAR: 1998
AWARD NAME: The Robert Capa Gold Medal Award 1998
RECIPIENT: James Nachtwey
AFFILIATION: Magnum for Time
HONORED WORK: “Indonesia: Descent into Madness”
Since the fall of Suharto, Indonesia has been slipping into chaos, its political and social order crumbling. When religious and ethnic tensions erupted in November 1998, an angry Muslim mob in Jakarta killed 13 Christians in two days. James Nachtwey waded into the mob to record the killing. At one point Nachtwey begged an attacker about to slash someone’s throat to stop and, surprisingly, he relented. The crowd turned on Nachtwey, but did not strike. The photographer’s chilling images show us the cost of rage and hatred. We want to turn away, but we are compelled to look.
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