Double Blind

Winner of Pictures of the Year International Award 2008 for Best Use Book Paolo Pellegrin was on assignment for the New York Times and Newsweek in Lebanon during the conflict in July and August 2006. This onslaught saw one of the most indiscriminate and relentless attacks on a civilian population of recent times. Along with diary entries by Scott Anderson, the journalist he was travelling with, Double Blind speaks of the hidden attacked from afar and above by the unseen, whilst civilians lost everything. Pellegrin has since been awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal, the W. Eugene Smith Fund and was awarded first prize in the General News category of World Press Photo for his work covering the conflict. The onslaught in Lebanon during the months of July and August 2006 resulted in not only the deaths of over 600 Lebanese civilians but also an almost complete destruction of the country's infrastructure: schools, roads, hospitals and homes. In total Hezbollah launched 2500 rockets into Israel, resulting in the deaths of 36 Israeli civilians, and the wounding of hundreds more. Paolo Pellegrin (Magnum Photos) and journalist Scott Anderson were in Lebanon during the conflict, on assignment for The New York Times. Pellegrin's photographs intimately capture the fear and powerlessness of the Lebanese population in the face of the ceaseless Israeli air strikes, revealing the terror and despair of families and friends witnessing the deaths of their loved ones, whilst around them their homes were destroyed. In particular Pellegrin also documented the aftermath of the attack on the village of Qana in southern Lebanon; many of the victims children, his photographs reveal the immense suffering of the civilians involved. Alongside his work exposing the consequences of indiscriminate attacks on a civilian population is a 3000-word account by Scott Anderson, who accompanied Pellegrin in Lebanon. Pellegrin and Anderson were both wounded in a missile attack by an Israeli drone, which fired on their vehicle as they traveled through the city of Tyre. Along with the civilians of southern Lebanon, they were stranded for weeks under heavy bombing and air strikes by the IDF. The attack at Qana, also the second one to strike the village in living memory, soon after prompted the singer Patti Smith to respond in the form of a song, entitled 'Qana', the words and music of which form her contribution to the book.