Support for Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières (www.msf.org.au) provides emergency medical assistance to populations living in the most extreme circumstances.
MSF is working in 70 countries around the world – these include programs dealing with:
- Victims of direct or indirect conflict in South Sudan and Darfur (West Sudan).
- Refugees and displaced people in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- Malnutrition in Niger and Sudan
- War surgery in Haiti and DRC
- HIV/AIDS pandemic and Tuberculosis in Cambodia, China, Kenya, Thailand and South Sudan
- Malaria in Myanmar
- Measles in Nigeria and North Kenya
In 2005 five photographers from the renowned VII photo agency, in association with Médecins Sans Frontières, travelled to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in order to document the suffering of the Congolese people as they struggled to survive a war that remains virtually invisible to the outside world. Their work is presented in the photographic exhibition Democratic Republic of Congo: Forgotten War.
Decades of war and the collapse of the public health system have resulted in widespread and acute misery for people throughout DRC. Despite the recent peace process, many Congolese still face extreme deprivation and violence, with brutal militia attacks and sexual violence common. Severe malnutrition and epidemics of diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS and cholera, and the complex and diverse nature of the violence and neglect challenge any notion of simple, blanket solutions to address even the immediate causes of so much death and suffering.
“Today the world only seems to be able to focus on one or two events at a time. Over the past years, DRC has never been one of them,” said VII photographer Ron Haviv. “By becoming aware of the staggering human toll in DRC, it was obvious for us at VII to try to help change that. We hope that through this work we can raise the awareness of what is happening and that all who see the work will want to help change an ever worsening situation.”
Following an international tour including New York, Tokyo, Paris, Denmark and Tokyo, MSF Australia presents this extraordinary exhibition by Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Joachim Ladefoged and James Natchwey.
The Australian tour is sponsored by NAA (Nursing Agency of Australia), with Brisbane Powerhouse as Artistic Partner and the Air Road Foundation as Transport Partner.