Photo

Selections from “In the Light of Darkness”

By Kate Brooks

Immediately following the destruction of the World Trade Center, photojournalist Kate Brooks made a beeline to Pakistan, where she secured an ideal vantage point from which to view the military and geopolitical repercussions of the 9/11 attacks. Over the next ten years, Kate tirelessly documented the mess of related insurgencies, wars, and revolutions throughout the region. Her travels brought her to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, and other countries defined by instability and conflict.

Kate’s surroundings—and gender—required her to be wily and ingeniously brave. Once she preempted trouble at a border crossing by strategically packing tampons and lingerie in her bags, hoping to discourage Egyptian customs officials from carefully inspecting or seizing her camera gear and images. Her work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, the New Yorker, and many other places, and her forthcoming book, In the Light of Darkness (out this fall from Schilt Publishing), collects some of her most striking shots along with a series of personal essays describing her journey from turn-of-the-millennium Pakistan to the still-in-progress Arab Spring uprisings.

Lebanese teens watch Israeli airstrikes from a hilltop overlooking Beirut at the start of the 2006 Lebanon War.