The ninth exhibition of Moving Walls opened at OSI-New York on June 10, 2004, less than two months after the release of horrific images from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq—an event that has prompted worldwide recognition of the power of documentary photography to shape world events, not merely record them. The Moving Walls exhibition is not organized around a specific theme, yet of the six photographers in this exhibition, four focus on war and its aftermath: in Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, and Israel/Palestine. Those photographs, in addition to displays about low-income mothers in the United States and a boy’s journey north from Central America in search of a better life, challenge the viewer to confront difficult issues and consider whether he or she can simply walk away unchanged.

The journey of a young boy making his way from Honduras to North Carolina, as recorded by Don Bartletti, represents the massive migration of undocumented immigrants from Latin America to the United States each year. “Bound to El Norte: Immigrant Stowaways on the Freight Trains of Mexico” makes personal a larger story.

Stephen Ferry’s photographs expose a deadly conflict long misunderstood outside of Colombia. In "The Wrong War," Ferry seeks to counter the common idea that the country's brutal civil war is only related to narcotics trafficking, that Colombia's is a "drug war." Rather, the images speak to the complex social issues and historical causes that underly the violence that has wrenched the country for decades.

The images in Sean Hemmerle’s “The American War on Terror: Iraq” are wholly different in style from typical war photography. People are eerily absent: in these photographs, destruction itself is the subject.

The legacy of the Taliban is ever-present in Steve McCurry’s images of postwar Afghanistan. “Afghanistan: Between War and Peace” shows a fragile country struggling to forge a new identity in the shadow of a violent past.

Rickie Solinger, curator of “Beggars and Choosers: Motherhood Is Not a Class Privilege,” calls for the defense of reproductive rights for all mothers, regardless of their social or economic status. This group exhibition focuses on families that don't comply with traditional norms.

Larry Towell captures the desperation of those living behind Israel’s security barrier in “Walling Off Peace.” In a region fraught with division and hatred, the wall is the most literal barrier to a peaceful resolution.