[Photography] puts a human face on issues which, from afar, can appear abstract or ideological or monumental in their global impact.

I want my pictures to cut through political abstractions... and make a connection on a human level.

When the truth is spoken, it doesn't need to be adorned. It just needs to be simply stated, and often it only needs to be said once.

[Photography] puts a human face on issues which, from afar, can appear abstract or ideological or monumental in their global impact.

If I can upset people, if I can ruin their day, then I have done my job.

I want my work to become part of our visual history, to enter our collective memory and our collective conscience. I hope it will serve to remind us that history's deepest tragedies concern not the great protagonists who set events in motion but the countless ordinary people who are caught up in those events and torn apart by their remorseless fury. I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.

I want to record history through the destiny of individuals who often belong to the least wealthy classes. I do not want to show war in general, nor history with a capital H, but rather the tragedy of a single man, of a family.