Family, colleagues bid farewell to Anton Hammerl
Nearly three months after he was shot by Libyan government troops near Brega, a ceremony in Johannesburg remembered photographer Anton Hammerl and reflected on his life and work - and his quest to tell the truth about conflict, despite the dangers.
4 Jul 2011
Hammerl changed after he was drafted into the South African military and deployed to the front line of the Apartheid government's war with Angola, long-time friend Ziemek Pater told a memorial service on Saturday.
That experience may explain, in part, why he left his young children behind and travelled to the front lines of the war in Libya, to photograph the conflict that still rages there.
Some of those images, shown at the service, are extraordinary; a man at prayer as a rocket is launched in the background, rebels with cobbled-together equipment getting ready to move towards the front, the detritus of war strewn about a desert landscape.
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About Phillip de Wet: @phillipdewet
Phillip de Wet is associate editor at the Mail & Guardian. He used to be deputy editor of Daily Maverick (www.dailymaverick.co.za), its live-tweeting specialist (@phillipdewet, @dailymaverick) and the editor of First Thing, the morning email from Daily Maverick. He writes primarily on politics, business and technology, and also deals with persistent trolls.
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