Press: The Daily Gazette & Metroland

The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY), October 28, 2010 Photos capture physical,  emotional impact of war Views of Afghanistan, Iraq wars bring home reality Thursday, October 28, 2010 By Joanne McFadden TROY — One assignment, three different results,  all poignant statements about humanity. That’s what visitors to The Arts Center of the  Capital Region will see in “Battlesight:  Dispatches from Iraq and Afghanistan by  International Photographers,” the debut  exhibition of the Center for Documentary Arts at The Sage Colleges. It will be on exhibit through Dec. 19. Timothy Cahill, founding director of the center, admits that there’s “something very  brave about launching a not-for-profit devoted to documentary art and compassion in  the midst of a great recession.” Yet he, along with founders Dr. Melvin Krant and  Steve Lobel, did just that. “Battlesight” goes to the heart of the center’s twofold mission: to use documentary  arts to bring viewers into the lives of other people and as a result increase awareness  of what we share as humanity and foster increased compassion for one another. In part, Cahill chose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the center’s first exhibition  because it will be on view at the same time as The Sage College’s Veterans Week  2010, and this was a way to highlight the activities of the center’s host institution.  Despite the subject matter, the exhibition is not a political statement. Neither it nor  the Center for Documentary Arts has a political agenda, Cahill said. He chose three photographers who had worked in Iraq or Afghanistan on  assignment to provoke a conversation about how documentary artists work and also to give the public a closer look at what is taking place in that region of the world. “I wanted the show to begin to be a dialogue about various ways these artists take reality and mold it into something that’s truthful and communicate that truth,” he said.  Full article here Metroland, October 28, 2010 ART MURMUR THIS IS WAR An exhibit opened at the Arts Center of the Capital Region (265 River St., Troy) last week that we all would do well to check out.  Curated by Timothy Cahill, Battlesight: Dispatches from Iraq and  Afghanistan by International Photographers is a powerful collection of war  photography by Pulitzer Prize winner Cheryl Diaz Meyer, Balazs Gardi  and Teru Kuwayama. The exhibit is on view through Dec. 19, but there  will be a reception tomorrow evening (Friday, Oct. 29) from 5:30-9 PM  during Troy Night Out. The battle for Iraq on view at the ACCR: Cheryl Diaz Meyer’s Dust Storm (2003).