IT IS THE VICTORS, so common wisdom has it, that write history. And even though postmodernism has redefined both victory and history the maxim would seem to hold water after a visit to the Sony Gallery's current exhibition of photographs by the Associated Press of the "War in Iraq".

None of the photographs are particularly inspiring, but then there was probably little inspiration to be found on the ground. Even though some of AP's photographers were Iraqis, while others were embedded with the Coalition and yet others worked independently, this remains a war seen through the victor's lens, an aspect that characterises AP's selection here much as it has characterised most press photo coverage of the war.

And the victor is not yet Iraqi. Most of the photos on show picture American soldiers going about the business of war. The Iraqis are victims, the horror painted on their faces. These are not -- for the most part -- the joyous celebrators of liberation.

Particularly telling is the caption to this photograph by Jean-Marc Bouju: "An Iraqi man comforts his 4-year-old son at a regroupment center for POW of the 101st Airborne division near An Najaf, Iraq Monday, March 31, 2003. The man was seized in An Najaf with his son and the US military did not want to separate father and son."

The exhibition includes the inevitable photo of Saddam Hussein's effigy being pulled down as well as another, slightly more interesting image, showing another statue of Hussein in Arab garb set on fire, with smoke billowing from its base.

For details see Listings