This is a visual and written retrospective of my journey through war and humanitarian crises over two decades: from Afghanistan under the Taliban shortly before 9/11, to the fall of Saddam Hussein and its aftermath, the genocide in Darfur, the popular uprising and civil war in Libya, and the recent Syrian refugee crises, which has displaced roughly half of the population of Syria.

I’ve included short pieces written by the journalists I have collaborated with over the years from The New York Times and TIME Magazine, as well as letters sent to my mother from Baghdad, and the interview I did with a soldier while I was embedded in the Korengal valley.

I hope this exhibition provides insight into the complexity of war.

Lynsey Addario is an American photojournalist who regularly works for The New York Times, National Geographic, and TIME Magazine. Since September 11, 2001, Addario has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Darfur, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She photographs feature stories on humanitarian and human rights issues across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa with a specific focus on women’s issues.

In 2015, American Photo Magazine named Lynsey one of Five Most Influential Photographers of the Past 25 years, saying “she changed the way we saw the world’s conflicts.” In 2009, Addario was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for her “…dedication to demystifying foreign cultures and exposing the tragic consequences of human conflict…and providing a valuable historical record for future generations.”

She was part of The New York Times team to win the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for her photographs in Talibanistan, published in The New York Times Magazine, and in 2015, she was nominated for an Emmy award for The Displaced, a photographic series and virtual reality film documenting the lives of three children displaced by war and conflict in Syria, South Sudan, and Ukraine.

In 2016, the University of Wisconsin-Madison awarded her an honorary Doctoral degree in the Humanities for her professional accomplishments.

She recently released a New York Times best selling memoir, It’s What I Do, which chronicles her personal and professional life as a photojournalist coming of age in the post-9/11 world. It is her first book.