Shedding light on war: Women war photographers

A German-Jew, Gerda Taro fled Germany in 1933; in 1936, she set out with Robert Capa to photograph the Spanish Civil War. Not neutral in her political beliefs, Taro captured the resistance to General Franco, including this woman, a member of the Republican militia, conducting target practice on a beach near Barcelona. Taro's work was groundbreaking, influencing public sentiment across Europe.

Taro was the first woman conflict photographer to die while shooting images on the frontline. She quickly made a name for herself, even though she initially released images both her and Capa's names, many of which were later solely attributed to him. Her shots from the Spanish Civil War focused especially on civilians — namely women and children, as in this photo of refugees in southern Spain.

One of four women photographers allowed to travel with the US Army in Europe at the end of World War II, Lee Miller provided stunning images of the liberation of the concentration camps Dachau and Buchenwald for Vogue. Before the war, Miller was a part of the surrealist circle, counting photographer Man Ray as a friend. Her art background shows in the composition of photos of the worst atrocities.

A photographer for the Los Angeles Times, Carolyn Cole was well into her career as a photojournalist focusing on natural disasters and Central American conflicts when 9/11 happened. She then traveled to Afghanistan as the US invaded, and later, to Iraq. Cole has shifted her work in recent years to focusing on natural disasters.

Demulder traveled to Vietnam at the height of the war and used the camera to capture events she witnessed in Saigon when the US evacuated. She later went to Lebanon during the civil war, where she took this picture in 1976 of a massacre in a Palestinian refugee camp. She was the first woman to receive the World Press Photo Award for the photo, which was originally turned down for publication.

For much of the 20th century, conflict photography was done in black and white. Susan Meiselas was one of the first women photographers to use color, sparking controversy over the "aestheticization of conflict." Her photos of conflict zones in Central America expanded the public understanding of war, showing the suffering of civilians during wartime, such as Nicaraguan travelers being searched.

Raised in Madrid, Spengler says she was influenced by Spanish art, such as Diego Velazquez's composition style and Francisco Goya's ability to capture humanity’s darkness in his paintings. "Happily you never get used to the horror, the injustice," says Spengler, who has shot conflicts in North Ireland (above), Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran and Palestine, as well as the Calais Jungle migrant camp.

Conflict photography can sometimes appear one-sided, focusing either on civilians or the soldiers from one side. In her work in Vietnam, Catherine Leroy attempted to capture both sides, pointing her lens in one series at a US Marine as he finds a fellow soldier dead in action. Decades later, she visited the subject of this image at his home in the US to see the lasting effects of the war.

Hosting the "Women War Photographers" exhibition is the Kunstpalast Dusseldorf, which holds 80 photographs by Anja Niedringhaus in its collection. Niedringhaus started her career in Bosnia and was known for returning to conflict zones repeatedly to capture wars as they progressed. She often worked in Afghanistan, where this image was taken and where she was killed while on assignment for AP.