The Magnum Digest: November 13, 2020

Tributes to the late Bruno Barbey

Magnum photographer Bruno Barbey died on November 9, 2020. A variety of publications have shared obituaries and articles in tribute to the late Barbey. Leica Fotografie International’s piece can be seen here. The Eye of Photography shared three photo stories dedicated to the photographer: reflecting on his career as a whole, here and here, and on his color work in China here. Testimonies written by Magnum photographers are compiled here.

French-speakers can read an obituary by the Academie des Beaux-Arts, of which Barbey became a member in 2016, here. An article by Le Monde, can be seen here. Read coverage by Le Point here.

Lorenzo Meloni and Peter van Agtmael’s election coverage on TIME

TIME has featured a photographic story reflecting on the events of election week in the US through the lenses of 13 photographers, including Lorenzo Meloni and Peter van Agtmael. Speaking to the magazine, Meloni says, “Although I am particularly happy to see my American friends and colleagues rejoice in Biden’s victory, as a photographer who has worked for many years in the Middle East, I hope that the United States, democratic or republican, will be more careful with their foreign policies.” Read van Agtmael’s reflections, and see the two photographers’ images here. Find more election coverage by Magnum photographers here.

Eli Reed and Colby Deal on The New York Times

Magnum member Eli Reed and Magnum nominee Colby Deal were shooting work in Houston, Texas, on election day last week. The images, focus on Third Ward in Houston, the neighborhood where George Floyd was born, which is also Deal’s home. The resulting story, and a Q&A with both photographers, has been included in The New York Times’ Race/Related newsletter. Read it here. Find more election coverage by Magnum photographers here.

Enri Canaj on German television

German broadcaster ARD recently interviewed Enri Canaj about his work on the island of Lesbos and in the Moria refugee camp, which was devasted by fire in September. The disaster left 13,000 without shelter: many of whom were forced to flee to the Greek mainland. Watch the video feature, in German, from the program Titel Thesen Temperamente, here.

Sohrab Hura’s work features in digital exhibitions on MoMA and Experimenter

Companion Pieces: New Photography 2020, the exhibition organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as part of a yearly showcase of work by contemporary photographers, moves its display online this year, taking form as a series of editorial pieces. The project features the work of Sohrab Hura, with images from his projects The Song of Sparrows in a Hundred Days of Summer, and Snow. See the piece, and listen to Hura’s audio description of the project, here.

A retrospective of the photographer’s work is currently on show on the website of Kolkata gallery, Experimenter. See photographs and films taken from Hura’s projects The Coast, A Proposition for Departure, The Lost Head & The Bird, and more, here. ArtReview has published a short story written by Hura accompanying ‘The Coast’, his newly released film. Read that here.

Hura’s The Levee has also been selected in Fast Company’s list of best books. “The book is an honest collection of portraits and landscapes of the photographer’s reaction to his surroundings,” writes photo editor Samir Abady. Read the full round-up here.

Elliott Erwitt interviewed on The Guardian

In a profile for The Guardian published this week, Elliott Erwitt discussed his new work with non-profit Project Hope — which makes use of his 1965 image of rubber gloves drying on a line in seeking to provide much-needed PPE to healthcare workers around the world — as well as Covid-19 restrictions in the UK, and his forthcoming book, Found Not Lost, which brings together over 150 never-before-seen images. Read the interview here.

Raymond Depardon’s Glasgow work featured in the BBC, and Glasgow Times

Coinciding with the project’s 40^th anniversary, the BBC has published a feature exploring the French photographer Raymond Depardon’s photo story made in Glasgow in 1980. The article shares insights from an artist talk given by Depardon last week. Originally made on an assignment for The Sunday Times, whose brief was to photograph the dichotomy between rich and poor, the images – now renowned – were at the time rejected on the grounds that they did not contradict ideas readers already had about the city. Read the piece here.

Another article, for The Glasgow Times, shares the news that Depardon plans to donate prints of the work to the city’s museums. Read more here. Take a more in-depth look at the project, accompanied by author William Boyd’s text, here on Magnum here.

Leonard Freed’s Black in White America on The Washington Post

The Washington Post has published a look at the images which form Leonard Freed’s Black in White America 1963-1965, a seminal book which documented moments from the civil rights movement, and has been recently re-issued by Reel Art Press. See the Washington Post article here.

Trent Parke on The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald has shared a feature about the new documentary and photobook by Steve Waugh. The former professional cricketer for Australia travelled around India photographing the country’s love for the sport, and receiving mentorship from Magnum member Trent Parke. See the article here.

Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris-Webb on Nearest Truth podcast

Magnum photographer Alex Webb and his partner and creative collaborator Rebecca Norris-Webb were recently guests on episode 106 of podcast Nearest Truth. The duo discuss their street photography practice, focusing specifically on their work in their home borough of Brooklyn, New York. Listen to the podcast and read a summary here. Learn more about the project, on Magnum, here.

Alessandra Sanguinetti wins Sundance grant, and appears on AnOther’s photobook list

The Sundance Institute has named its cohort of Documentary Fund Grantees for 2020, which includes Alessandra Sanguinetti. The photographer prepares to direct a film based on her project documenting the lives of two cousins, Guillermina and Belinda, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, over the course of two decades. Read more about the 23 film projects receiving funding here.

AnOther magazine has selected Sanguinetti’s book, The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer, the second chapter of the project, on its list of ‘Ten Photo Books to Buy This Month’. The decade-long segment of the project by Sanguinetti is a sequel to her previous book The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and The Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams. See the full list of photobooks here.