Synopses & Reviews
Some World War II battle sites, such as the D-Day beaches of
Normandy, are well known and frequently visited. The critical
battlefields of the North African campaign, which took place
between June 1940 and May 1943, are particularly
inaccessible, both because of their geographic location and
because they exist within a region that continues to be
affected by political strife and violent upheavals. Yet, in 2011
and 2012, the photographer Matthew Arnold spent several
months traveling from Egypt to Tunisia to document remote
WWII battlefields where Axis and Allied forces fought against
each other and against the elements amid challenging terrain.
Beautifully illustrated with 79 of Arnolds color images from this project, the book commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of the North
African campaign.
A vivid, often haunting look at North African battlefields
that have been silent and largely unobserved for more than
seventy years. Matthew Arnold's photographs are so compelling
that little imagination is needed to see opposing
armies once again sweeping across the desert.”
Rick Atkinson (American author and Pulitzer Prize winner)
Synopsis
A series of landscapes upon which many crucial battles in the North African Campaign were fought
Synopsis
Matthew Arnold spent months in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya to photograph these unfamiliar North African landscapes upon which many crucial battles in the North African Campaign were fought. The sites were found utilizing old battle maps to follow the paths that the Allied military units used, and hadn't been seen and certainly not photographed in over sixty years. Arnold has documented the battlefields as they currently stand in a personal style of landscape photography: impressionistic muted horizons of desert, coastal seascape and grassland, incorporating bunkers, trenches, and physical artifacts of the conflict that remain as part of the environment.
A vivid, often haunting look at North African battlefields
that have been silent and largely unobserved for more than
seventy years. Matthew Arnold's photographs are so compelling
that little imagination is needed to see opposing
armies once again sweeping across the desert.”
Rick Atkinson (American author and Pulitzer Prize winner)
Synopsis
Enduring beauty of the landscape and the lingering traces of World War II on II its North African battlefields.
About the Author
Matthew Arnold(b. 1972) is a photographer living in New York
City. After college he taught offset lithography and digital
imaging as an adjunct professor at the School of the Museum
of Fine Arts Boston. Arnold was awarded the 2013 Museum of
Fine Arts Boston Traveling Fellowship for this project.
Hilary Roberts is head curator of photography at the Imperial
War Museums in Britain. A specialist in the history of war
photography, Roberts works with collections of historic war
photography around the world. She also works closely with
civilian and military photographers covering current conflicts.
Natalie Zelt is an independent curator and author based in
Austin, Texas. From 2009 to 2012, she was the curatorial
assistant for photography at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston.