Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, USA, 11 April ~ 18 May 2013
“Inner Light” presents approximately seventeen small-scale, gelatin silver print portraits inspired by Hetherington’s visit to West Africa in 1999, the first of many trips that brought the artist into contact with the consequences of war. Although often thought of as a conflict photographer, Hetherington’s defining core was his compassionate connection with people and his relentless search for the spirit that drove the subjects of his pictures. None of his work demonstrates this more clearly than his poignant photographs of the blind in Sierra Leone. 

Hetherington wrote in 2004, “As a result of the civil war [in Sierra Leone], many people were left with serious medical conditions. As well as the more common abuses of amputation, the fighters of the Revolutionary Front (RUF) also terrorized people by cutting their eyes out. Others lost their eyes to shrapnel or as a result of being caught up in combat. Many simply lost their eyesight because they did not have access to a doctor and therefore a simple medical condition developed and went untreated.” Hetherington’s interest in the condition of blindness became a theme in his work as the artist spent five years developing a series focused on the Milton Margai School For The Blind (1999 - 2003) and until his death maintained his support for the school and its mission.