"I’ve lived and worked in Europe for many years --- specifically in Berlin now --- but I’m from Memphis and still have family here. For almost 25 years now I’ve covered conflicts around the world. One of my most memorable moments as a photojournalist was in Sarajevo in ’95 when I was stringing for AP. I was standing outside a hospital after a mortar attack when a mother got out of a taxi carrying her wounded child in her arms and heading for the operating room. Layla, the little girl, was bleeding from her eye. I was able to capture that image, and politicians in Italy rallied behind the photograph to evacuate this young girl from Sarajevo to Italy, where ophthalmologists operated on her for free and replaced her damaged eye with a glass eye. There were also Italian widows who willed their estates to Layla’s family so that she and her siblings could attend university. When you're in war situations, the work can take its toll, but fortunately I had a strong foundation in art therapy before I ever began, and that training has helped me to process and deal with those experiences." [NOTE: Robert King, in front of one of his photos entitled "Afghan Trooper 511 Cavalry", holds his recently published (2014) photography book, Democratic Desert: The War in Syria.]
Robert King's work is on exhibit at the Annesdale Park Gallery, 1290 Peabody, through February 14, 2017.
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