Antoine d’Agata was born on November 19, 1961, in Marseille, France. At the age of 17, he interrupted his studies to live in the world of the night. For 12 years, he lived and traveled in some 20 countries. In 1991, while living in New York with no photographic experience, he enrolled at the International Center of Photography, where he studied with Nan Goldin and Larry Clark. In 1993, he moved to France, worked as a bricklayer, and stopped his photographic practice until 1997.
Antoine d’Agata’s work can be read as an exploration of contemporary violence from two distinct perspectives: the violence of the day, or economic and political violence (migration, refugees, poverty and war), and the violence of the night, or violence generated by social groups marginalized by poverty (survival through crime, narcotic addiction, sexual excess). His latest books are VIRUS (2020), which documents the Covid-19 pandemic, and Antoine d’Agata — Francis Bacon (2020), which brings together the works of both artists.
For the past 30 years, Antoine d’Agata has lived and photographed all over the world and has published some 50 works. He has been a full member of the Magnum Photos agency since 2008.
