Sean Flynn (Absent Friend)

The Search for the Self

Sean carried a great burden – he was the son of legendary ‘larger than life’ actor, Errol Flynn. His grandfather was the scientist on Douglas Mawson’s 1912 Antarctic expedition. All three were adventurers. Sean arrived in Saigon as a ‘playboy actor’ but instantly wanted to become a ‘serious’ war photographer. Like many of the ‘young Turks’ that turned up in Saigon during the Vietnam War, he had more passion than skill, he learnt his craft on the run and he turned out to have an extraordinary eye not just for the still image but also as a film cameraman for CBS. His search for himself became a journey that took him to a destination that he may have been headed for all along.

His fascination with warfare ultimately took him too some very dark places and this resulted in another journey into spiritualism and full circle to Buddhism. Believing his luck had run out he returned to Saigon to pack up his flat as America started bombing Cambodia. He did one more story and disappeared at the hands of the brutal Khmer Rouge.

These images are part of Sean’s journey and a tribute to his bravery and talent – but most of all they show us how little the images of war have changed and how little we have learnt.

Marianne Harris