Photo: Aeroplane Crash, Cuba-Mexico, 1966. Enrique Metinides.

Matt Havercroft went along to the Photographers' Gallery to take a look at a dramatic display of brave photojournalism.

The Enrique Metinides exhibition at The Photographers' Gallery opens with a photo of a fire at the Aristos building in Mexico City from which 40 people were rescued; it is a moment to celebrate.

Paradoxically, it ends with the image of a forlorn policeman, his head bowed next to the lifeless body of a boy who has committed suicide. A pool of blood gathers on the deserted balcony by the young man's head. It is a fitting end to a powerful but unsettling collection.

Metinides' photographs, showing at the gallery until September 14, are a grizzly selection of images depicting disaster and destruction.

Photo: Train Crash, 1982. Enrique Metinides.

Shown together, they are the epitaph of a man who dedicated his life to recording moments of death, grief, and heroics. Brutal records of human violence, bad luck and even divine retribution; they are a shocking reminder of our own mortality.

Enrique 'El Nino' Metinides was born in 1934. His nickname, 'the boy' refers to his precocious talent; Metinides had his first front page photograph published at the age of 12.

From the late 1940s until his retirement in 1993, Metinides worked for the Mexican press, including the popular tabloid La Prensa. His line of work was the 'Nota Roja', or 'bloody news', a section of the Mexican mass media dedicated to violent, tragic or sensationalist real-life events.

Working as a volunteer for the Red Cross, Metinides was witness to the darker elements of human existence. His subjects, all witnessed in or around Mexico City, include infernos, floods, aeroplane crashes, car crashes, train crashes, bus crashes, murders, accidents and suicides.

Photo: Truck Crash, Riviero Delgado family. Enrique Metinides.

Against the backdrop of a violent and populous city, he captured instances of horror, mourning, loss and despair. It is this 'human' element of his photography that commands an emotional reaction from the onlooker.

Despite being destined for the cover of a national publication, Metinides' photographs do not over sensationalise the moment. Inventive and dramatic, they stand alone in their own right. As a collection the effect is overwhelming; a dramatic headline is not necessary to create an impact.

Set in the centre of the exhibition is a series of three images of a man, 45-year-old Antonio 'N'. Balanced precariously on the framework of the city's Toreo Stadium, two rescue workers persuade him not to jump.

Having been returned safely to solid ground, the man is quoted as saying "I wanted to know what death was like." Perhaps he should have asked Metinides.

24 Hour Museum readers should be warned that this exhibition contains graphic and often disturbing scenes.