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After dangerous, dusty assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan, photographer Michael Kamber has chosen a tough area of New York City as the new backdrop for his interest in war.

The award-winning journalist recently opened a gallery in the Bronx, the first in the borough, and he hopes that his gesture will both help photographers and build bridges with a neighborhood that, while not at war, certainly knows the harder side of life.

The Bronx Documentary Center's inaugural exhibition focused on images by Tim Hetherington, a British photographer who was killed in April, along with his colleague

Chris Hondros, while working in the rebel Libyan town of Misrata.

Kamber says the 40-year-old, who was killed in shelling by besieging forces loyal to the late Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, had always been fascinated by the Bronx, one section of which has the highest poverty rate of any district in the United States.

The surrounding neighborhood seems to have adopted its unusual new addition. Schoolchildren have turned the gallery into one of their meeting points while curious passersby stop in, wishing to know more or just congratulating staff.

The paint still smells fresh in the exhibition room where you can see Hetherington's final pictures, taken before he was fatally wounded. The helmet and flak jacket he wore during that fatal day also sit by the door.

Danielle Jackson, director of the Bronx Documentary Center, said Hetherington and she talked shortly before his death "about what should be done about photography and how you need to get it out of the museum".

Kamber also said his friend had wanted photography to escape its usual confines.

"He thought like the media was sometimes used as a form of propaganda. It gave people what they expected to see week after week, months after months, and he felt that in so doing we became part of the propaganda," Kamber said.

（中国日报网英语点津 Rosy 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.