On display June 11 to 25, 2009, at the Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, 165 West 65th Street, Mezzanine level
Video synopsis www.hrw.org/en/video/2009/06/11/long-story-bit-bit-liberia-retold

Long Story Bit By Bit: Liberia Retold explores the dynamics of power, international complicity, and the search for justice in recent Liberian history. Liberia’s last three presidents have each faced a dramatic end: William Tolbert was disemboweled during a coup d’état, Samuel Doe was filmed being tortured to death, and Charles Taylor is standing trial for war crimes in The Hague. But the terrible years of war and corruption have given way to a more hopeful present, with Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf taking the helm of the country as Africa’s first female president.

Bringing to life an extraordinary range of characters—from warlords to presidents, environmental activists to traditional hunters, political hustlers to democratic visionaries, Tim Hetherington examines the forces behind Liberia's past and present: from the raw power wielded by the young men of rebel groups to the corruption of the transitional government and on to the possibilities of a democratically elected president. His work brings names and faces to news headlines, and in doing so demonstrates that what happened in Liberia was not the product of inexplicable and random chaos.

The images are excerpted from Hetherington's recently published book of the same title (www.umbragebooks.com) entwining documentary photography, oral testimony, and personal writing.

Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington spent eight years living and working in West Africa, four focused on Liberia. In the 2003 civil war he and broadcast colleague James Brabazon were the only journalists to live behind rebel lines, a situation that earned them an execution order from then president Charles Taylor. Hetherington stayed on after the war, living in downtown Monrovia and recording the daily life of a country moving on. In 2006 he took a break from image making to work as an investigator for the United Nations Security Council’s Liberia Sanctions Committee. Known for his long-term documentary work, he is the recipient of an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award, a UK NESTA National Endowment Fellowship, and four World Press Photo prizes, including the 2007 World Press Photo of the Year. He currently lives in New York and works worldwide as a contributing photographer for Vanity Fair. www.timhetherington.com