NORWICH.- Joining the Sainsbury Centre’s 6-month long investigation into What is Truth? is an exhibition re-evaluating the most iconic images of the past 100 years. The Camera Never Lies: Challenging images through The Incite Project explores the impact and influence photography has had on shaping – and in some cases distorting the narrative of major global events.

Featuring more than 100 works by legendary photographers including Don McCullin (b.1935), Stuart Franklin (b.1956), Robert Capa (1913-1954) and Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), as well as modern practitioners, this extensive exhibition charts a global century of iconic documentation and manipulation.

Sometimes seen as superior to text, photographs are now a mainstay of how the media and the public consume events such as war, famine, and celebrity. But is what people see a true reflection of the reality? The exhibition first looks at how single photographs came to represent and define events through their repeated use in print journalism, and how narratives are shaped by them during and long after the events have occurred.

The exhibition explores whether an image captured by an individual photographer, choosing one angle, with a singular crop, can show the whole truth of an event. One image which has been the main source of information for a historic event is The Tank Man (Stuart Franklin, 1989). In 1989 Beijing, China saw weeks-long protests calling for greater democracy in Tiananmen Square until the Government stormed the Square with soldiers and tanks, firing at the protestors on 4 June. It is estimated that hundreds were killed, and the famous image remains of an unknown demonstrator stopping a line of tanks as they leave the Square. Iconic to Western audiences for its emotive impression of one man’s defiance against authoritarian power, whereas in China, the protests, military retaliation, and images of that day remain highly censored, to the extent that it is not clear how well known the events are to the younger Chinese population.

The context and truth behind famous images are sometimes not known after the initial event was captured. Robert Capa’s iconic image of The Falling Soldier (1936) (depicting a soldier being shot during the Spanish Civil War) has been heavily debated over the years due to minimal information given by Capa at the time and the loss of the negatives either side of the image. Many people have believed this image to be staged.

The location of the photograph was unknown until Professor José Manuel Susperregui used the topography visible in the background to identify where Capa stood. From here it was determined that on the day the photograph was taken the front line was far away.

79 years later Max Pinckers and Sam Weerdmeester stood on the same hill to make Controversy (2017). They used a high resolution camera, usually used to reproduce paintings, to take the most accurate representation possible of a location steeped in romance and uncertainty.

Showing the moment JFK was assassinated, even the title of President Kennedy slumps over towards Jackie, mortally wounded by an assassin during motorcade, Dallas, Texas (1963) could still be disputed, as theories around how many assassins there were still abound. The still is taken from the Zapruder film, which galvanized many into investigating whether the fatal shot could have been taken from the Book Depository, or whether it was more likely that it came from a point much lower to the ground.

This century, one of the most defining events was the attack on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001. In the exhibition is Richard Drew’s (b.1946) Falling Man (printed 2013) which has drawn both praise and criticism for capturing such a chilling moment. The identity of the man is still unknown, and by some families is still being disputed. Motivations are also ascribed as to whether he jumped or fell, or whether even the act of jumping in a situation could constitute a willing act. Even in a century in which video appears to reign supreme, it is a still image which conveys the terror of that day. Continuing questions from the event highlight how one image cannot tell the whole truth.

The exhibition also shows the power and reach of war photography. One of the defining images of the brutality of war was captured by Eddie Adams (1933-2004) with the Pulitzer-winning Police chief General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing a Vietcong prisoner, Nguyễn Văn Lém, on a Saigon street (printed 2004). Taken seconds before the execution, the photograph appeared on newspaper front pages worldwide, and this is how Loan’s widow found out about his death. The reasoning behind the execution is disputed, and most contend the action was a war crime. The captured moment continued to follow the Police Chief for the rest of his life; even after fleeing to the US he was subject to an attempted deportation, which was only stopped by the intervention of the then-President Jimmy Carter.

Vietnam was a conflict that produced many generation-defining images that are still well-known today. A photo of a self-immolation protest by Malcolm Brown (1931-2012), Buddhist Monk, Thich Quang Duc Burns Himself to Death on a Saigon Street to Protest Persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese Government (printed 2013), was referenced by President John F Kennedy who said “no news picture … has generated so much emotion around the world”. The image was re-produced on postcards to warn against imperialism, but the conflict would escalate and continue for another decade. Later, the image would be used for album cover art. That escalation resulted in the widespread use of napalm, leading to the harrowing image of crying children running away from such an attack in Terror of War, Napalm Attack on Trang Bang, Vietnam (wet stamp dated 1973). This image is still used as a marker for modern conflicts that involve large scale bombing and civilian casualties.

Don McCullin is one of the most notable war photographers, in which he would eschew colour for black and white, and a selection of his works, including Shell-shocked US marine (1968), are on display.

More uplifting, positive single images have also been used to define moments in time. Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995) captured the euphoria of the end of World War II with a photo of a sailor and nurse in embrace with VJ Kiss, Times Square, New York (1990). Steve McCurry’s (b.1950) Afghan Girl (1984) sparked an interest in people which beyond their current situation, where the face of the girl did not just represent the plight of refugees but came to represent a western view of an entire country. Taken in a refugee camp during the Soviet-Afghan war, the sitter, later named as Sharbat Gula, gives a striking look to the camera and this image would have a resurgence two decades later as a symbol of women’s rights during the US military campaign in Afghanistan. These images are not without complications, as several individuals have claimed to be the subjects in VJ Kiss, and modern interpretations question whether the woman subject gave consent. There have also been reports that Gula was angry her image was used without her consent.

The second part of the exhibition looks at how modern practitioners of photography are using research to inform their photography, and how they work with much more agency than in the previous century, as now the person behind the lens has more control than the picture editors at newspapers. Subjects such as government surveillance, domestic violence, and world conflict are explored, not through single dramatic events, but with constructed images laden with meaning and context. When shown in their full series, or accompanied by explanation, they reveal and depict the truth.

Matt Black (b.1970) is an American photographer who focuses on the marginalised in society. He depicts harsh environmental conditions such as a solitary mattress left out in the cold in Flint, Michigan, Snowfall (2016), or billowing smoke in Crop duster markers. Corcoran, CA (2014). Plight of poverty is shown in the individuals around a Stop N’ Save in Corner store. Modesto, CA (2014), and the consequences of desperation for those seeking a better life in The remains of an unidentified migrant discovered in Brooks County, Texas (2015).

British photographer Edmund Clark (b.1963) has been exploring politics of control and incarceration for decades. Showing a single contraption, Camps IV - Camp 6, Mobile force-feeding chair, Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp (2009) is an eerie image of an object that has been used in the controversial processes of Guantanamo Bay. Despite not showing the technique ‘in action’, the photo still carries an unsettling power, with the horrors perhaps intensified by the emptiness and quietness of the chair. Photographs from Clark’s Negative Publicity series are also being shown, which documents the sites and bureaucratic mechanisms that powered the counter-terrorism rendition operations throughout the early 21st century. Clark’s work documents the spaces where brutal events took place, meaning the truth of the event would not be known without context.

Landscapes by the Nigerian-British photographer Simon Norfolk (b.1963) show the central highlands in Afghanistan throughout different seasons of war. Sometimes these images are of snow-capped mountains and tranquil trees, while others include tanks amongst the elements, drawing attention to the impact of humans and mechanised warfare has on altering landscape.

Italian photographer Lorenzo Meloni (b.1983) has been documenting the war in Syria and Iraq between ISIS and the various Government forces. As well as the demolished buildings and political graffiti, Meloni has portrayed the intriguing international background to the conflict and its participants, photographing the identity cards found on dead IS fighters, including French and Turkish IDs, and British provisional driving licenses.

The exhibition concludes with the work of American artist Trevor Paglen (b.1974). Well known for launching his own satellite into space with the sole objective to be looked at, some of Paglen’s space photography is on display. There is also a video that the artist made of a string quartet, overlayed with information collected by artificial intelligence. Mimicking the technology that is now being used in self-driving cars, guided missiles and drones, the video demonstrates how AI can be guided by ethical and political scripts, influencing human interpretation.

Sainsbury Centre Director Dr Jago Cooper said: “The photos on our phone have become the memory bank of our lives - this incredible exhibition brings to life the memories of the world. But are these iconic photos a true reflection of history or merely the images that form our perception of it?”

Curated by Harriet Logan and Tristan Lund, the works in The Camera Never Lies: Challenging images through The Incite Project are drawn from The Incite Project, a private collection of photojournalism, documentary photography and photographic art with a remit to support contemporary practitioners.

Curator Tristan Lund said: “The relationship between truth and photography remains one of the most pressing concerns for us at The Incite Project, so it is a privilege to be invited to exhibit the collection at The Sainsbury Centre on this topic.

“We care deeply about the photographers we work with and the concerns they are addressing. ‘Truth’ is inherent, underlying, or blatant in all of their work.

“The exhibition asks what truths we can really expect to extract from a photograph. Is the succinct and objective sharing of facts the thing we remember most from a single image, or rather is it the emotion triggered by the composition and creativity of the photographer that tells 1,000 words?”