• The American War: Photographs by Al Rockoff

  November 15 — December 28 2008

Legendary photojournalist Al Rockoff has spent the bulk of his working life documenting war and the aftermath of war in Southeast Asia. He spent several years as a combat photographer, covering what he calls “The American War” in Vietnam. Then, from 1973 to 1975, Rockoff worked as a freelance photographer in Cambodia and was one of the few journalists who remained to capture the fall of Phnom Penh and the brutality of the Khmer Rouge.

“I shed blood for my art”, says Rockoff, whose passion for truthful combat photography left him wounded nine times. His stunning photographs have been published in numerous newspapers and magazines, including Newsweek and the New York Times, and he was portrayed, albeit inaccurately, by John Malkovich in the Academy Award winning film The Killing Fields.

Mr. Rockoff continues to return to Cambodia, adding to his inventory of images for an upcoming book. By chronicling the country’s emergence from the war, and its post-Khmer Rouge reconstruction, he hopes to correct the misconceptions that exist regarding its destruction. “The blood debt that America owes Cambodia is a big one” Rockoff says of the American invasion and its aftermath.