The Magnum Digest: September 3, 2021
Peter van Agtmael photographs the family of a fallen US soldier for TIME, Magnum photographers show Covid’s impact on children for Unicef, Zied Ben Romdhane explores political tensions in Tunisia, plus more
Peter van Agtmael’s image on the cover of TIME
A story in TIME magazine, illustrated by the photographs of Peter van Agtmael, follows the experiences of the family of Javier Jaguar Gutierrez, the last US soldier to be killed fighting in Afghanistan in February 2020 before the countries signed their peace deal. The story explores how the Gutierrez family’s grief, representative of the situation of many in America, has continued as a result of enduring violence. Read the story in the September 13–20 print issue and online here.
Magnum photographers collaborate on Covid-19 story for Unicef
A project featuring work by Magnum photographers Enri Canaj, Emin Özmen, Lindokuhle Sobekwa, Cristina de Middel, Peter van Agtmael, and Alex Majoli exploring the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the lives of children around the world has been published by Unicef. The project sees the photographers trace the experiences of young people in Greece, Brazil, Turkey, the US, Italy, and South Africa. View the work online here.
Zied Ben Romdhane’s images feature in Le Monde
A story in Le Monde exploring the political landscape of Tunisia is illustrated by the images of Zied Ben Romdhane. The article interviews supporters of the country’s current president, Kaïs Saïed, who has enacted sweeping changes in the government in the name of fighting corruption, including the dismissal of the prime minister this July. Read the piece here.
Enri Canaj is shortlisted for Leica Oskar Barnack Award
Magnum photographer Enri Canaj has received a nomination for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, a prize given to a body of work in the genre of documentary photography. Canaj’s Say Goodbye Before You Leave, collecting over a decade of his photographs on the subject of migration, is one of 12 shortlisted projects among which a winner will be chosen in November this year. Read about Canaj’s project and the other nominated works here.
The Washington Post reviews Magnum 2020
A new review of the Magnum 2020 book in The Washington Post has described the publication as being “filled with exquisite images”. The publication chronicled the lives and work of Magnum photographers during one year in their own images. In his review the newspaper’s Kenneth Dickerman reflects on the tumultuous events documented by the membership, saying “The last year has shined a light on how power and privilege are wielded, and can work for good or be incredibly destructive and damaging. It’s brought forth a lot of anger and frustration. Magnum isn’t immune to that. None of us are.” Read the Washington Post article here and get the book on the Magnum shop.
Gilles Peress’ new book receives award at Arles, plus press mentions
Gilles Peress’s Whatever You Say, Say Nothing has been awarded the Author’s Book Award Special Mention at the 2021 Rencontres d’Arles. Ahead of the release this month of the book and its accompanying textual volume, Annals of the North (by Gilles and Chris Klatell) in North America, both published by Steidl, the publications have received press coverage from: The Washington Post (“will surely go down as one of the most compelling photographic works of our time . . . One work that comes to mind is another monumental one – ‘Finnegans Wake’”), Le Monde (a “visual odyssey, the most striking we have seen for a long time . . . an unparalleled work”); The Guardian (“staggering . . . dauntingly ambitious . . . a singular achievement, by turns raw and tender, quietly reflective and gut-wrenchingly emotional. All human life is here as it was lived during the Troubles. This is what reality looks like during an unreal time.”); Süddeutsche Zeitung (“to say that ‘Whatever You Say, Say Nothing’ depicts the [Bloody Sunday] massacre is as much of an understatement as claiming that Flaubert’s Sentimental Education merely tells the events of the Revolution of 1848”); Der Freitag (Peress’s “magnum Opus”); ND (“epoch-making”); SWR.de Radio (“a monumental book project beyond compare”); the Derry Journal (“sets the bar dizzyingly high”); and an entire special edition of The Eye of Photography (“an event. Something rarely experienced. See the birth of a monument that will be in all libraries worthy of the name at the end of the year.” – JJ Naudet; “The work has a ‘thereness’ that’s so sincerely real and that goes to the heart of photography, maybe even art; it feels inside of time, and also transcendent of time.” – Donovan Wylie), as well as other publications.
Koudelka exhibition in Rome reviewed
Juliet Magazine has reviewed the exhibition ‘Josef Koudelka. Radici. Evidenza della storia, enigma della bellezza’ on show at the Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome until September 26. “Koudelka’s images lend themselves to both documentary and poetic readings because they ‘speak’ about photography as philosophy,” Sara Buoso writes. Read it here.
Martin Parr’s image on the cover of Holy Show
Holy Show, a magazine exploring contemporary Irish life and art, shares the images of Martin Parr in its new issue. A feature inside the magazine shares Parr’s project, From the Pope to a Flat White, while an image from his project The Last Resort takes the cover of the magazine. Read thejournal.ie’s review of the magazine issue here.
Alex Majoli’s Opera Aperta reviewed
The Brooklyn Rail shares its review of Alex Majoli’s latest book, Opera Apera, which saw the photographer continue his exploration of photojournalism as theater during the coronavirus pandemic. “This composite project incorporates ideas about performance and the pandemic in a narrative that cannily straddles realism and symbolic exaggeration,” writes the magazine. Read it here.
