The timeless photojournalism of Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington

Joseph Duo, a Liberian militia commander loyal to the government, exults after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces at a key strategic bridge, July 20, 2003 in Monrovia, Liberia. Government forces succeeded in forcing back rebel forces in fierce fighting on the edge of Monrovia's city center.

It is one of the most striking images taken during the Liberian civil war by photographer Chris Hondros. It is featured, along with pictures by another veteran photographer, Tim Hetherington, in a new exhibition at the Bronx Documentary Center in New York City, called "War and Peace in Liberia: Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros."

The exhibit is a testament to their craft as well as to the dangers they faced on the front lines; both photographers were later killed while covering conflict in Libya.

Exhibition

The work of Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros helped inform the world about the humanitarian disaster in Liberia in the midst of its years-long civil war, forcing the international community into action, which resulted in United Nations peacekeepers being deployed and democratic elections.

The Bronx Documentary Center exhibition "War and Peace in Liberia: Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros," which includes some photos never before shown, was produced in collaboration with Magnum Photos, Getty Images, the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the United Nations Foundation, and Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues (RISC).

Chris Hondros

A photographer for Getty Images, Chris Hondros covered war in Kosovo, Angola, Liberia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the West Bank, among other conflict zones. On April 20, 2011 he was fatally wounded by a mortar attack in Misrata while covering the civil war in Libya.

Child Warrior

LIBERIA: Monrovia, July 30, 2003. A child Liberian militia soldier loyal to the government walks away from firing while another taunts them in Monrovia. Sporadic clashes continued between government forces and rebel fighters in the fight for control of the city.

Refugees

LIBERIA, 2003. Refugees fleeing the war.

Center Line

LIBERIA: Monrovia, July 15, 2003. A Liberian refugee boy walks down the center line of a main street outside a refugee camp in Monrovia. Hundreds of thousands of Liberians converged on the capital fleeing fighting in the bush, causing a health and sanitation situation that the international aid organization terms "catastrophic." Residents and refugees in the capital alike waited for word on when international peacekeepers, especially from the U.S., would come to calm the war-torn country.

Refugee Camp

LIBERIA: Monrovia, July 15, 2003. Refugees crowd into a Masonic temple converted into a camp in the capital of Monrovia. Hundreds of thousands of Liberians converged on the capital as they fled from fighting in the country's civil war. The U.S. weighed sending troops to this West African country, but only on the condition that President Charles Taylor step down and leave.

Grief

LIBERIA: Monrovia, July 26, 2003. A woman grieves over the body of a relative outside a church in Monrovia. Sporadic shelling continued overnight in the city, hitting a church that housed dozens of families, killing at least three.

Tim Hetherington

British photojournalist Tim Hetherington co-directed the Oscar-nominated documentary "Restropo," about the war in Afghanistan. He also photographed war in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia. He was author of  "Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold."

He was killed on April 20, 2011, while covering the civil war in Libya. It was the same mortar attack in which Chris Hondros was killed.

Rebel

LIBERIA. Tubmanburg, June 16, 2003. A young rebel fighter with hand grenade.

Intimacy

LIBERIA. Monrovia, June 25, 2003. A member of the AA (Anti-Aircraft) brigade exchanges a brief tender word with his girlfriend during heavy fighting in the capital of Monrovia.

Protest

LIBERIA. Monrovia, 2004. Members of the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET) stage a protest.

Graffiti

LIBERIA. 2004. War graffiti left during the Liberian civil war.

Forest

LIBERIA. Fish Town, June 2005. Rain clouds gather over a nearby forest.

Shipwreck

LIBERIA. Greenville, September 2005. A fisherman passes the wreck of an old ship off the port of Greenville. Liberia is scattered with boat wrecks owing to the 14-year-long civil war.

The exhibition "War and Peace in Liberia: Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros," will be on view at the Bronx Documentary Center in the Bronx, N.Y., through January 13, 2019. 

Exhibition book: "War and Peace in Liberia"

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan