"I don't care so much anymore about 'good photography'; I am gathering evidence for history"

- Gilles Peress

b. 1946

French

Based in New York, USA

Contributor

Available for commissions
& assignments

In 1972, Gilles Peress began documenting immigration in Europe. This work continues in his current ongoing project, Hate Thy Brother, a cycle of documentary narratives that looks at intolerance and its consequences.

His books include Haines; A Village Destroyed; The Graves: Srebrenica and Vukovar; The Silence: Rwanda; Farewell to Bosnia and Telex Iran.

His work has been exhibited and is collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, PS1, all in New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Getty Museum in Los Angeles; the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; the V&A in London; the Musée d’Art Moderne, the Picasso Museum, Parc de la Villette and Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; the Museum Folkwang, Essen; the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, among others.

Awards and fellowships Peress has received include: The Guggenheim Fellowship , National Endowment for the Arts grants, Pollock-Krasner and New York State Council of the Arts fellowships, the W. Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography and the International Center of Photography Infinity Award.

Portfolios of his work have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Du magazine, LIFE, Stern, Geo, Paris-Match, Parkett, Aperture and The New Yorker.

Peress is Professor of Human Rights and Photography at Bard College, NY and Senior Research Fellow at the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley. Peress joined Magnum Photos in 1971 and served three times as vice-president and twice as president of the co-operative. He and his wife, Alison Cornyn, live in Brooklyn with their three children.

Education
1966/68 Institut d’Etudes Politiques
1968/71 Université de Vincennes

Awards
2009 Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Photojournalism
2002 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2002 New York State Council on the Arts, Individual Artists Project Grant
2002 Cornell Capa Award (ICP Infinity Awards): Here is New York: a democracy of
photographs
2002 Brendan Gill Prize: here is New York: a democracy of photographs exhibition
2000 Mosaique Programme Grant, “Difference/Indifference” Centre National de
L’Audiovisuel, Luxembourg
2000 Overseas Press Club: 1999 Olivier Rebbot Award, “Exile and Return”, The New Yorker
2000 Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards: Journalistic Impact – Photo Essay, “Exile and Return”,
The New Yorker
1999 Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards: Eyewitness Photo and Journalistic Impact
1998 Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards: Eyewitness Photo and Journalistic Impact
1997 Art Director’s Club Award for NY Times Web site design: Bosnia: Uncertain Paths
to Peace.
1997 Open Society Institute’s Individual Project Fellowship: Hate Thy Brother
1996 International Center of Photography Infinity Award
1995 Erich Solomon Prize
1995 Camera Works
1994 International Center of Photography Infinity Award
1993 La Fondation de France Fellowship
1992/93 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
1992 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1990 Art Matters Grant
1989 Ernst Haas Award
1989 Art Director’s Club Award
1986 Gahan Fellowship at Harvard University
1984 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1984 W. Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography
1983 Fondation Nationale pour la Photographie
1983 Imogen Cunningham Award
1981 Prix de la Critique Couleur
1981 Prix du Premier Livre/Foundation Kodak Pathe
1981 Overseas Press Club Award
1981 Art Director’s Club Award
1981 American Institute of Graphic Arts Award
1979 National Endowment for the Arts
1977 Apeiron: Artist in Residence

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
2011 Photography from The New Yorker, Howard Greenberg Gallery
Rencontres d’Arles – The New York Times Magazine Photographs Exhibition
Anti-photojournalism, FOAM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2010 Anti-photojournalism, La Virreina, Barcelona, Spain
Haus der Geschichte, Bonn, Germany, Fall of the Wall
Triennale di Milano, “Disquieting Images” exhibition, The Silence, book installation
2009 Look3 Festival, Charlottesville, Virginia
2008-10 Access To Life/Rwanda, lobal Fund/Magnum Photos traveling group exhibition,
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Musée de l’Homme, Paris, France;
Matadero Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Stenersenmuseet, Oslo, Norway; Ara Pacis
Museum, Rome, Italy; African American Museum and Library, Oakland, CA;
Berliner Conference Center, Berlin, Germany
2007 1937 Guernica 2007, Musee National Picasso, Paris, France
System Error Exhibition, Palazzo Delle Papesse, Sienna, Italy
Mosaique, Centre National de L’Audiovisuel, Luxembourg
L’Image d’Apres La Cinematheque Francaise, Paris, France
Turkey by Magnum, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul
2006 Full House: Views of the Whitney’s Collection at 75
2005 Espelho Meu, Portugal as seen by Magnum Photographers, Centro Cultural De,
Belem, Portugal
2004 Haines, gelatin silver print installation, Galerie Fait et Cause, Paris, France
Grenzenlos (Beyond Borders): The Fall, book installation; The Graves, digital
print installation; Apres Entres Guerres, book installation; Farewell To Bosnia,
silver print installation, C|O Berlin, Berlin Germany
En Guerra (At War) Exhibition, Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona,
Spain
2003 Choix d’HCB, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France.
Here is New York “A Democracy of Photographs” Exhibition Co-founder, 2001,
Concept and Design Gilles Peress.
2002 Here is New York “A Democracy of Photographs” Exhibition Co-founder, 2001,
Concept and Design Gilles Peress.
2001 Here is New York “A Democracy of Photographs” Exhibition Co-founder, 2001,
Concept and Design Gilles Peress.
Farewell To Bosnia, silver print installation, Washington University Gallery of Art,
St. Louis, MO
The Silence, book installation: Dazibao, Montreal, Canada
2000 The Silence, book installation: Centro de Estudos Fotograficos, Vigo, Spain
To The Rescue: Eight Artists in an Archive: Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston,
Texas
The Graves, digital print installation: Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo, and Bosnia
To The Rescue: Eight Artists in an Archive: The Jewish Museum of San Francisco,
California
1999 The Graves, digital print installation: Nederalnds Foto Instituut, Rotterdam, the
Netherlands
To The Rescue: Eight Artists in an Archive: Miami Art Museum, Florida
Farewell To Bosnia; Apres Entres Guerres, digital and silver print installation:
Open Society Institute New York, NY
1999 The Pursuit of Happiness, The Silence, book installation: The Alternative Museum,
New York, NY
To The Rescue: Eight Artists in an Archive: The International Center of Photography, New York, NY
Under/Exposed: Stockholm, Sweden
The Graves, digital and silver print installation, Scalo Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Bosnia: Avant/Apres Guerre, digital print installation: Parc de la Villette, Paris,
France
Devoir de Memoire: The Silence, book installation: Parc de la Villette, Paris, France
1997 Farewell To Bosnia, silver print installation: La Filature, Mulhouse, France
The Silence, book installation: Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France
Europe in the 70’s, silver print installation, Sag Harbor Picture Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
The Silence, book installation: Nederlands Foto Instituut, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The Silence, silver print installation: University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism
1996 Face a l’Histoire, The Silence, book installation: Centre George Pompidou, Paris, France
Guerras Fratricidas: Fundacio “la Caixa:”, Barcelona, Spain
Sex and Crime, The Silence, silver print installation: Sprengel Museum, Hannover,
Germany
Projects: Iran, Ireland, Bosnia, Rwanda, silver print installation: Howard Greenberg
Gallery, New York, NY
1995 The Silence, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; Museum Folkwang, Essen,
Germany
1995 Farewell to Bosnia – Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA
1994 Farewell to Bosnia – Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA; Photomuseum, Winterthur, Switzerland; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA; PS1, New York City, USA; Rhode Island College Art Center, USA; New Langton Arts, San Francisco, California, USA; Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Nimes, France; The Dutch Institute of Photography, Rotterdam, Netherlands; La Primavera Barcelona (Fundacio La Caixa), Spain
1993 Lillehammer Art Museum, Lillehammer, Norway
1992 David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, USA
1990 Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA; Alternative Museum, New York City, USA; International Center for Photography, New York City, USA; Winnipeg Art Gallery,
Winnipeg, Canada
1989 Alternative Museum, New York City, USA; International Center for Photography,
New York City, USA; International Museum of Photography/Eastman House,
Rochester, USA; University of South Florida, Tampa, USA; Canon Image Center,
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Fotograficentrum, Stockholm, Sweden; Side Gallery,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, USA;
Arbetets Museum, Norrkoping, Sweden
1988 Hippolyte Gallery, Helsinki and Ranta Gallery, Oulu, Finland; Burden Gallery,
New York City, USA
1987 The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
1986 Cité de la Villette, Paris, France; Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard
University, Cambridge, USA; The Catskill Center for Photography, Woodstock, NY, USA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
1985 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA; Musée d’Art, Fribourg, Switzerland; Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France; Ledel Gallery, New York City, USA
1984 Institute for Art and Urban Resources, New York City, USA; Film in the Cities,
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA; Focus Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA; City
Gallery, New York City, USA; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France;
Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Galerie Magnum, Paris, France
1983 Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA
1982 Side Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK; Centre Kodak, Paris, France
1981 Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, France; International Center for Photography, New York City, USA
1980 Institute for Art and Urban Resources, New York City, USA
1980 Arts Council of Great Britain, London, UK

Selected Collections
Archive of Modern Conflict, London, England
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Arts Council of Great Britain, London, England
Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, France
First Bank of Minnesota, MN
Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA
Fondation Leitz, Rueil-Malmaison
Fondation Nationale pour la Photographie, Paris, France
Fotomuseum Winterhur, Zurich
Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, NH
The International Center of Photography, NY
International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
The Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Musée Municipal du Chateau d’Eau, Toulouse, France
Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. IL
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
The Museum of the Moving Image, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, NY
The New York Historical Society, NY
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
Portland Museum of Art: Ernst Hass Memorial Collection, ME
Side Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, CA
University of New Mexico, University Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
University of South Florida Art Museum, Tampa, FL
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY

Books
Haines, Photo Poche – Actes Sud, 2004, 94 black & white photographs. Photographs
and text by Gilles Peress
A Village Destroyed, UC Press, 2002, 251 pages. Photographs by Gilles Peress, with
text by Eric Stover and Fred Abrahams
Here is New York: A Democracy of Photographs, SCALO, 2002, 864 pages. Photography
collective. Photo editing, sequencing, and design by Gilles Peress
The Graves: Srebrenica and Vukovar, SCALO, 1998, 334 pages. Photographs by Gilles
Peress, with text by Eric Stover
The Silence (Le Silence), SCALO, 1995, 208 pages. Photographs by Gilles Peress, text
by Alison Des Forges
Farewell To Bosnia, SCALO, 1994, 168 pages. Photographs and text by Gilles Peress
Telex Iran, (Telex Persans), SCALO, 1997, 102 pages. Photographs by Gilles Peress,
text by Gholam Hassan Saedi, Aperture/Contrejour, 1984, for first edition

Films
Farewell To Bosnia, Part One, Directed by Gilles Peress & Eric Marciano. New York
1997
A Peruvian Equation, Part of the series The Magnum Eye, made for TV Tokyo, 1992.
Street Musicians (filmed in NY for M. & Co. Agency, for Benetton), 1992

New Media
Bosnia: Uncertain Paths To Peace. Interactive multimedia photojournalism project for
the New York Times On-Line, 1996. concept and design Gilles Peress with Fred
Ritchin
Farewell To Bosnia. with Picture Projects: Text and photographs by Gilles Peress, 1995.
Crimes of War. Concept and Design Gilles Peress with html/editorial by Pixelpress
Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley. Concept and Design Gilles Peress with html by
Pixelpress
DNA and Human Rights. Concept and Design Gilles Peress with html/editorial by
Pixelpress
A Village Destroyed. Concept and Design Gilles Peress

Read More

Selected works

Conflict

The Silence: 25 Years Since the Rwandan Genocide

Gilles Peress

Author Philip Gourevitch’s memories and Gilles Peress' images: the importance of documenting atrocity

Open story
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