18 January 2010 | New York City -- A new photo exhibit by award-winning photojournalist James Nachtwey, Struggle to Live-The Fight Against TB, opens this Wednesday at 401 Projects, a non-commercial photo gallery in lower Manhattan. The show is sponsored by the medical technology company Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD).
Nachtwey has documented the resurgence of TB and the spread of MDR- and XDR-TB in Cambodia, Lesotho, South Africa, Siberia, India, Swaziland, and Thailand. The exhibit seeks to capture the lives of both patients and health care workers in their struggle against TB.
"Despite the fact that tuberculosis afflicts a huge number of people it's not on the radar screen in terms of public awareness. Normal tuberculosis, if treated diligently, is very inexpensive and doesn't take very long to cure. But if normal TB is not treated, it mutates and becomes 100 times more expensive, requires a two-year cure and a long stay in the hospital, which many of those infected cannot afford. The thought of XDR getting out of control is truly frightening," Nachtwey said.
401 projects, located at 401 West Street in New York, is open Wednesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 18:00
Nachtwey has had his work featured recently in such publications as GEO Magazine, Stern, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. He has received numerous honours such as the Common Wealth Award, Martin Luther King Award, Dr Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, Henry Luce Award, Robert Capa Gold Medal, the World Press Photo Award, Magazine Photographer of the Year, the Bayeaux Award for War Correspondents, the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities and the 2008 TED Prize.
As the recipient of the TED PRIZE Nachtwey asked TED to launch a major campaign to raise awareness about XDR-TB. Nachtwey's photographs on XDR were viewed in giant screenings in 50 cities around the globe, and across the web, through a multimedia campaign.