Jack V. Picone (born 1958) is an Australian-born
documentary photographer,
photojournalist
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
, author, festival/collective founder, tutor and
academic. He specialises in social-documentary photography.
Picone's coverage of war zones and social issues is internationally prominent, and over a career spanning more than three decades, his photojournalism has encompassed 10 conflicts across three continents, the global HIV/AIDS
pandemic
A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...
and the
Nuba peoples
The Nuba people are indigenous inhabitants of central Sudan. Nuba are various indigenous ethnic groups who inhabit the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state in Sudan, encompassing multiple distinct people that speak different languages which b ...
of
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
among many other subjects.
His work has been featured in a wide range of international publications including ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'', ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' (''SMH''),
''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', ''Liberation'', ''Der Spiegel'', ''L'Express'', ''
Granta'',
''Independent'' (UK) and ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
''. As of 2016, Picone's work is held at various venues including the Australian War Memorial, State Library of NSW and National Portrait Gallery of Australia,
and his exhibited work has been displayed at numerous international venues, including the Australian Centre of Photography,
University of Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
,
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
headquarters and Visa Pour L'Image Perpignan. Picone has also authored/coauthored seven books.
Among his list of honours, Picone is a three-time winner of the Picture of the Year International (POYi) award; a winner of the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Humanity Photo award, the ''
Mother Jones
Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
''/IFDP Grant for Social Documentary Photography award and the
World Press Photo award; and a finalist of both the
Walkley Awards and the Amnesty International Media Awards.
Picone received both his Master of Visual Arts (MVA) and
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
from
Griffith University,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, Australia, and he was an "Artist-in-Residence" Visiting Professor of Lingnan University in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
from 2012 to 2014. As of the beginning of 2017, he is a Lecturer at
Mahidol University
Mahidol University (Mahidol), an autonomous research institution in Thailand, had its origin in the establishment of Siriraj Hospital in 1888. Mahidol had an acceptance rate for Medicine of 0.4% as of the 2016 academic year.
Becoming the Univers ...
in Thailand.
Early life and education
Born in
Moree, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 1958,
Picone grew up in rural Australia, a period that was later self-described as a "privileged middle-class background".
Picone's grandfather served with the Australian military in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and this would later influence the direction of his photographic career.
During his early childhood, Picone was intermittently cared for by an
Australian-Aboriginal nanny who he knew as "Ilene"; in 2016, Picone recounted the times when Ilene would be driven back to the local mission where she lived: "I vividly recall at the end of each working week my father putting Ilene and me in his big 1966 Chevrolet car and driving us out of town … We drove 'down the track' to drop Ilene back to the 'mission' (Aboriginal settlement) to be reunited with her family and friends."
Between 1971 and 1977, Picone completed his high-school certificate at
Waverley College in Sydney, Australia. His
master's studies at Griffith University commenced much later in 2002, lasting until 2006, and he eventually received his PhD in documentary photography from the same institution in 2014.
Work
In her 2007 book ''Photography and Australia'', Helen Ennis writes that Picone is among a group of photographers and photojournalists who emerged during the postmodernism of the post-1980s era, when documentary photography "unexpectedly resurfaced". Ennis explains that documentary photography and photojournalism had become divided during the 1970s due to
ideology
An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...
, but this gap was lessened in the 1990s due to factors such as the introduction of glossy weekend magazines, which presented photographic essays on contemporary life. Ennis includes Picone as one of the "social documentary" photographers alongside Stephen Dupont and David Dare Parker.
Picone's first professional role was that of a staff photographer at the prominent Australian daily newspaper, ''SMH'', as well as its weekend glossy magazine, ''Good Weekend'', which is a position he began in 1987. Around the same time, Simon O'Dwyer and
Trent Parke were gaining experience, also as staff photographers, at ''The Age'' and ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'', respectively.
In 2015, however, Picone revealed that the ''SMH'' job became "repetitive and unchallenging", leading him to enthusiastically indicate his interest in the role of
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
photojournalist in 1991 when the opening was announced by one of the ''SMH'' photo editors.
War/conflict
Picone explained to the ''VICE'' publication in 2013 that, in contrast with the stereotypical "adrenaline junkie" and
voyeur perceptions of
war correspondents, he was actually seeking to challenge himself to see if he could remain headstrong under such arduous conditions after having considered the prospect for a number of years: "I wanted … to see if I would be able to keep my head—literally and metaphorically." Picone would later explain that the role of the war photographer is to provide a voice for the "invisible" and the disempowered.
The "final catalyst", in Picone's words, was the Laurie Lee book ''As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'', a fictional account of a young man who leaves his home in
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
, England, UK, in 1943 and eventually finds himself in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
. Picone explained in 2013 that Lee "really captured the atmosphere of the Spain he saw, coloured by his young man idealism."
After his acceptance of the Gulf War assignment, Picone was sent to
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, but his introduction to war photojournalism was brief, as he was soon arrested by the
Iraqi secret police for having transmitted photographs of Iraqi troops entering
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
, and this was followed by his deportation to
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
. Also in 1991, Picone managed to clandestinely enter
Gaza with the assistance of the
Palestine Liberation Organisation
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...
(PLO), because he "didn't want to be officially attached to the Israeli Army". But again, he was deported, this time by Israeli authorities, after he was caught photographing the death of a young Palestinian.
Picone was subsequently sent to cover the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in th ...
in
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, which he has called his "first 'real' war experience". Arriving in Armenia in 1992, aged 30 years, Picone has described the
trench warfare
Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became a ...
of the conflict as akin to that of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. During one mountain-side attack that led to
shrapnel injuries, Picone recalls experiencing an "affirming, edifying euphoria that comes with escaping death".
Following Armenia, Picone not only relocated to London, UK, but his war work also changed continents as he commenced his coverage of his first-ever conflict in Africa, which was to lead to further work in the region. In 1992, he entered the war zone of the
Somali Civil War
The Somali Civil War ( so, Dagaalkii Sokeeye ee Soomaaliya; ar, الحرب الأهلية الصومالية ) is an ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the Military dictatorship, military junta wh ...
during a famine, and this was followed by his time in
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
from 1993 to 1995, which was also dealing with a civil war. In Angola, Picone spent time in the city of
Quito
Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...
, where he experienced an "ominous" silence and was struck by how "war weary" the women and children appeared. Picone's Angolan work also includes images of the
MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) soldiers, sick children, and ex-soldiers who had been chained to mechanical parts in mental hospitals. Picone wrote of Angola in 2015: "No matter how many times I photographed scenes of poverty and desperation … I never failed to be confronted by the pathos of it."
Following the publication of his Angolan images throughout Europe, Picone was subject to public criticism regarding a set of images wherein a young civilian Angolan male is beaten and shot by MPLA soldiers for refusing the compulsory-conscription campaign of the MPLA. Picone, who was accused of voyeurism, later recalled that he was unsure if the man eventually died, but asserted that he was helpless to prevent the incident, and risked being shot by the soldiers if he attempted to intervene.
In 1994, Picone spanned two continents, covering the
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
in the former
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
and the "100 Days of Slaughter" in
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
, Africa. In Bosnia, Picone captured images of Bosnian Muslim fighters engaged in trench warfare and children during the
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo ( sh, Opsada Sarajeva) was a prolonged blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav ...
; he described the children of the conflict as typically stressed, aggressive and erratic. The photographer's Rwandan experience was described in 2016 as a "dark journey into a country rapidly descending into a vision of hell." In his recounting, Picone's focus is the rural town of Rukara, where "nobody was spared"—the parish church was the scene of many devastated corpses, and mounds of dead bodies were piled up in the nearby woods. Since his return to London that year, Picone affirmed in 2016 that "the nightmare of Rwanda has never left me."
The
First Liberian Civil War
The First Liberian Civil War lasted from 1989 to 1997.
President Samuel Doe had established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of support from the United States by the late 1980s. The Nat ...
was the subject of Picone's correspondence in 1996, but it was not until 2001 that he returned to another conflict zone. After returning to Australia in 1998, where he founded the Sydney branch of the now-defunct Network Photographers agency, Picone was accompanied by a fellow Australian photographer to the Thai/Myanmar-border town of
Mae Sai
''Mae Sai'' ( th, แม่สาย, ; Shan: , ), is the district town of Mae Sai District in the far north of Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Mae Sai is a major border crossing between Thailand and Myanmar where the town of Tachileik, in Shan ...
, where fighting had broken out between the
Shan State Army
The Shan State Army ( my, သျှမ်းပြည်တပ်မတော်; abbreviated SSA) was one of the largest insurgent groups that fought government forces in Shan State, Myanmar (Burma). The SSA was founded in 1964 after the ...
and the Burmese Army.
Picone's war photography was then featured in the 2002 "Beyond the Facade: Twentyone Years of Photojournalism From Network Photographers" exhibition that commemorated the 21st anniversary of the Network agency, which had been founded in London by young photographers looking to publish "politically concerned pictures". Over the course of the agency's lifespan, Picone contributed to the forming of its reputation as a source of "hard-hitting" photojournalism.
Picone was based in Bangkok at the time of the
2010 Thai political protests
The 2010 Thai political protests were a series of political protests that were organised by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) (also known as " Red Shirts") in Bangkok, Thailand from 12 March–19 May 2010 against the D ...
that were organised by the
("Red Shirts"), and his detailed account of two army snipers, who he was physically alongside while they were engaged in conflict, was published in ''SMH''. His coverage produced the photographic essay "Battle for Bangkok", for which Picone became a finalist at the 2010 Walkley Awards.
HIV/AIDS
After the launch of the Positive Lives project in 1993, a HIV/AIDS photographic collaboration between the
Terrence Higgins Trust
Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to ...
and Concern Worldwide, Picone volunteered as a contributor over a nine-year period. The volunteer-led project sought to use photography to address the stigma and prejudices surrounding the virus, and reached over two million people during a 15-year period.
Although Picone's documentation was varied, comprising a Thai monastery hospice, a Thai children's home for orphans living with the virus, the Hong Kong/China border where sex workers and truck drivers had become unwitting viral transmitters, and Australian HIV-positive activists, it was his work with Andrew Knox that became the most prominent. Knox had contracted the virus at the age of 14 years through a blood transfusion and subsequently invited Picone to document his life story until he died in 1999. Knox was diagnosed with Aids Dementia Complex (ADC), which made it impossible for him to live at home. In addition to memory loss, seizures and violent mood swings, he was hospitalised frequently with pneumonia.
In accordance with Knox's invitation, Picone remained with Knox until his last living moment, when he was surrounded by his family.
Picone's body of Positive Lives work regarding Knox then formed a central component of the 2004 "experimental piece" ''The Scent of Positive Lives: (Re)Memorializing Our Loved Ones'' by Angela Kelly, then a doctoral student with La Trobe University's Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, and Aaron Kerner, then a lecturer at San Francisco State University. Kelly wrote in the article, which was published in the academic journal ''Qualitative Inquiry'':
Jack Picone, a photographer with the project, requested Andrew, his family, and my involvement … The images captured and presented in Positive Lives are positive, in both living and dying … The exhibition itself is a positive response to HIV … I feel united with those in the images of Positive Lives. I feel united with those of the epidemic who remain faceless, those who attended and continue to attend the exhibition.
The series of images that Picone captured formed part of the ''Reveries: Photography and Mortality'' exhibition that was held at the National Portrait Gallery in
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, Australia, in 2007;
additionally, Picone published an article entitled "Andrew's Story" in the ''Al Jazeera Magazine'' publication in 2015.
Nuba
After becoming interested in the Nuba people through the work of now-deceased German filmmaker and photographer,
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda.
A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...
—most notable for her role as the lead propagandist of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime—Picone became the third-ever person to enter the Nuba Mountain area to document the corresponding tribespeople. Riefenstahl had published her images in works like ''The Last of the Nuba'' (1974),
while deceased British photojournalist and
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
founder
George Rodger preceded her in 1949. Picone explained in 2006 that he had "researched the area fairly thoroughly but it was still a 'locked' expanse of geography and had been for approximately fifteen years."
Picone eventually sought to not only address the "dearth of accurate information from inside the mountains" that he encountered, but he also wanted to create "visual footsteps" in a "storytelling sense":
… the idea that this noble group of people living in a very remote region, that had been a closed door to the rest of the world, fuelled my imagination. It gave me a powerful desire to go there; document their lives and tell their story. I so much wanted to see how their world had changed in the time that eclipsed since Riefenstahl and Rodger had been there.
The photographer completed two trips to the Nuba Mountains, in 1994 and 1996, and his first entry was facilitated by a commander from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which was warring with the Khartoum government troops at the time. Picone was forced to leave the Nuba Mountains in 1994 due to his contraction of malaria; however, his subsequent report to
Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) led to the delivery of emergency medicines to the region.
In 2011, Picone described the remarkable cultural activities that he witnessed and captured, including a rain dance and a scarification ceremony; both involved the Nuba women, who danced at the end of the harvest period, while a woman was scarified by a pig tusk "when she first menstruated, when she formed breasts and then when she gave birth."
Picone's photos regarding the Nuba were first published in the British literary magazine ''Granta'' in the late 1990s, as "The Nuba", with the text provided by journalist John Ryle.
A feature article entitled "Vanishing People" was later published in ''SMH'' on 1 November 1997,
and this was followed by the Nuba exhibition as part of the 2011 Ballarat International Foto Biennale in
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...
, Victoria, Australia.
In 2006, Picone stated that the Nuba people remain an "enigma" and that the "story is still unfinished" for him.
After seeing Picone's published work on the Nuba, Riefenstahl invited him to meet with her in Germany—she sent Picone a letter in the late 1990s in which she expressed her interest in hearing the photographer's experiences with the Nuba. To the confusion of his journalist friends, Picone declined the invitation because he "felt uneasy" being "in the same orbit of a woman who was that close to Hitler." In 2006, Picone admitted that "in retrospect it was probably a mistake not to go."
Social issues
Picone was commissioned by a major Australian magazine in 1996 to report on the issue of alcoholism among the Indigenous population of
Alice Springs
Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
in desert Australia. He encountered violence and drunken behaviour, and was compelled to intervene after one episode wherein a woman named "Nancy" was beaten by a heavily intoxicated male—Picone drove her to an Aboriginal community where alcohol was not allowed, hoping that she would be safe there. Picone recalled in 2016 that the town "resembled … another planet."
After his relocation to Southeast Asia in 2000, Picone documented the experiences of the
Karen
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
ethnic group, including the
Kayan tribe, in relation to the ongoing conflict in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. For this work, Picone visited the Mae La border camp, the border town of Mae Sot and the Golden Horse
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
in the hills of the
Golden Triangle
Golden Triangle may refer to:
Places
Asia
* Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production
* Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development
* Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...
, the latter of which provides refuge to orphaned boys from Myanmar's
Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
.
In October 2015, Picone published a photographic essay on the Nai Soi village, where Kayan tribespeople have become self-sufficient through the tourism income they earn since fleeing Myanmar. Visitors who want to see the "long-necks" or "giraffe women" who wear the customary brass neck rings of the
hill tribe
Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains.
This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation.
The climate is generally harsh, with s ...
are charged an entry fee to walk through the village.
Also for ''Al Jazeera'', Picone visited the Ban Khun Samut Chin fishing village in Thailand in 2015 with respect to the
impact of climate change
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea level ...
. According to the village chief, the whole community is anxious because the village has faced "rising seas and coastal erosion for over 30 years".
Reportage Festival and Documentary Photography Workshops
The inaugural Reportage Festival of photojournalism, cofounded by Picone, Dupont, Dare Parker and Michael Amendolia, another documentary photographer, was held in Sydney after the concept was first conceived of in
Bondi, Sydney, in 1999. The founders hired the now-defunct Valhalla Cinema venue in the inner-city suburb of
Glebe, wherein two
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
carousels that alternated between large-scale projections of vertical and horizontal photojournalism images were set up.
For the 2013 instalment of the event that was held annually for a period after its inception, U.S. photographer James Nachtwey showed his ''Testimony'' collection at an outdoor exhibition at
Circular Quay, which includes images from
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
, Nicaragua,
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
and Afghanistan. Further, one of the workshops was hosted by Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb from Magnum Photos.
A partnership was formed for the first time with the
Vivid Sydney festival for the 2013 Reportage event, but a non-negotiable
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
decision from the then-CEO of Destination NSW, the organisational owner of the Vivid brand, resulted in the placement of a considerable burden upon the Reportage festival directors who were forced to rearrange sophisticated technology to ensure that projections that had been planned for the outdoor venues were only seen in indoor settings including the works of international artists like
Francesco Zizola. Walkley Award-winning photojournalist Andrew Quilty used the term "nanny state" in an interview with a Junkee Media writer, clarifying that what upset him most was the implementation of merely an individual's decision.
Picone and Dupont appeared on the Australian breakfast TV programme ''
Sunrise on 7'' to further discuss the issue publicly.
Picone founded the Reportage photography workshops that allow participants to undertake international assignments on location with experienced photojournalists who are familiar with the corresponding places in 2005 initially as "Communiqué"—the "Reportage" renaming occurred later. Partnering with Dupont, the first postrenaming workshop was held in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
in 2010, and this was sequentially followed by
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and Myanmar.
Video footage of the Nepalese workshop, shot in
Kathmandu
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, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
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, subdivision_type1 = Province
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, was published on the
Vimeo
Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...
platform by the Reportage multimedia tutor Ed Giles.
Other work
''Wind Riders''
During the period wherein Picone covered war zones in Africa, he accumulated images of fishing workers off the east coast of Africa (south Somalia and
Kenya
)
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, ...
) for "therapy and restoration". The images eventually formed the ''Wind Riders'' collection.
''The Shearers''
Around the turn of the 21st century, Picone shot ''The Shearers'' collection in the rural NSW area of Australia that he had grown up in, documenting an occupation that had "epitomised the machismo and romanticism of the outback." Picone recalls childhood memories of "strong, sunburnt, irreverent men who worked hard and played hard." In 2016, he contributed the ''Shearers'' image "Road Stop #1" to the Project 365 + 1 online art project for which poetry and photography are combined.
''Lake Providence''
During the late 1990s, Picone read that the small U.S. town of
Lake Providence
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, had been identified as the country's socio-economically poorest area, and this led him to travel to the town to capture images for his ''Small Town America'' series.
Portraiture
As part of his portrait work, Picone spent time with gay activist, writer and artist
Quentin Crisp in 1990, at his apartment in New York City, New York, U.S. Crisp died nine years later, slightly prior to his 91st birthday.
Documentary photography and photojournalism
In terms of his overall perspective regarding documentary photography and photojournalism, Picone made the following statement in 2011:
Documentary photography enables me to approach people from cultures vastly different to my own and communicate with them. As I document people and tell their stories, communication is exchanged between myself and them. Finally when those photographs are published in another place, it becomes a catalyst for further communication between different cultures. I like the idea that my reportages can be a conduit of communication between different cultures in different places. It is like the beginning of an intriguing conversation … Photography enables me to tell their story on a micro level but it also points to a story about the world we all live in, on a macro level.
He further explained "documentary practice" in 2013 in terms of storytelling; that is, it is driven "by
human need to know, to tell, to share and connect with others on both rational and non-rational levels."
Regarding war correspondence specifically, Picone's attitude was expressed as part of a feature piece in Volume 36 of Australia's ''Digital Photography'' magazine in 2014, wherein he said to the interviewer that one's role is not voyeuristic, but it is instead to "give someone a voice who doesn't have one." He also acknowledged, however, that the "grey area" of conflict zones means that he has approached each case according to its own circumstances, and he concluded with the warning that those who seek to "save the world and help everyone" on every assignment will not achieve their original goal.
In a 2012 interview with a
Bond University
Bond University is Australia's first private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its founding on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teaching-focused higher ed ...
-thesis student, in which all four of the Reportage Festival founders participated, Picone explained the major danger-related challenges faced by photojournalists of his ilk:
I mean photojournalists do tend to take great risks, more than most average people do, and go to places they probably shouldn't because a lot of the things that they're covering are either conflict or they're just contentious in their own right. So they do tend to put themselves in harm's way at different times, not all the time, but there's definitely an element of danger and risk for one's, anything from one's health to one's life.
When asked about his advice for aspiring "conflict zone photojournalists" in March 2016, Picone revealed that he wants to tell such people that they should not proceed, but what he typically says in actuality is that they should not go to any conflict zone unless they "have the greatest well founded conviction for going there in the first place" because it "is not the movies and it is not a computer game … You can die."
In 2013, Picone described his "deep shock" after his coverage of Rwanda. He explained that the "emotional hangover of witnessing the genocide can't be described" and that he "began experiencing nightmares which continued for eight years." In a number of interviews over the course of his career, however, Picone has clarified that he has never been concerned so much with dying, but it has been the idea of becoming a burden to his family due to injury that has been the overwhelming issue for him.
Equipment and technique
Picone is a brand ambassador of
Fujifilm Australia after he was first recruited in 2011 for the launch of the X100 product. Picone has since worked on the launches of the X-Pro1, X100s and X-E2 products;
for the X100s, Picone traveled to Myanmar and Cambodia with Swedish filmmaker Gerhard Joren to use the camera model.
In March 2016, Picone identified his preferred camera models and explained why Fujfilm's products are his favoured photography gear:
Their film cameras … GS645 medium format and the Fujilfilm TX 1 Panorama. Their latest digital release the X-Pro-2 is "off the graph" in terms of sensor quality, has a small discreet retro style that is easy to run with in a war zone and it doesn't scream out "kill me" for my ostentatious—worth way too much money—DSLR camera.
Picone said in 2014 that he had sold all of his
DSLR cameras in 2011 because he had ceased using them. DSLR cameras had become cumbersome for him, and had become an "affront" in the sensitive situations that he often documents, whereby the subjects could "freeze up and react".
On his website, Picone states that his long-term, ongoing passion for black-and-white photography and traditional darkroom printing is due to the medium's "capacity for both subtlety and drama." Picone quotes photographer
Robert Frank
Robert Frank (November 9, 1924 – September 9, 2019) was a Swiss photographer and documentary filmmaker, who became an American binational. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled ''The Americans'', earned Frank comparisons to a modern-da ...
, who said in 1951: "To me they
lack-and-white photographssymbolise the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected."
Regarding their Reportage workshops, Picone and Dupont apply the
dictum of
Eddie Adams: "If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, that's a good picture."
Publications
*''24 Studen Im Leben der katholischen Kirche'', Random House GmbH, Munich, 2005.
*''Proud To Be Nuba: Faces and Voices, Stories of a Long Struggle'', Code X Publishing, 2007.
*''Reveries: Photography and Mortality'', Australian National Portrait Gallery, 2007 - book accompaniment for the photographic exhibition.
*''This Day of Change: 132 Photographers Capture Hope'', Courrier Japon, Kodansha, 2009.
*''War: A Degree South Collection'', T&G Publishing, Hardcover, 2009.
*''Blood and Love'', self-published book of 20 years of documentary photography, 2010.
*''10X100: FINEPIX X100 by 10 Australian Photographers'', T&G Publishing, Hardcover, 2011.
*''Shaman Of Bali'' by John Greet, Monsoon, Paperback/eBook, 2016 - cover photograph by Picone.
Selected exhibitions
*2021: IMAGINE: REFLECTIONS ON PEACE MUSEUM OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS GENEVA.
*2021: IMAGINE: REFLECTIONS ON PEACE BRUSSELS.
*2020: INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF RED CROSS ZURICH “Peace.”
*2018: APERATURE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “Photography Ethics.”
*2017: MUSEE DE L’HOMME PARIS “Human Rights.”
*2017: MUSEUM AAN DE STROOM HOLLAND “BODY ART”
*2017: MONASH GALLERY OF ART “PEACE”: A Degree South Collective Exhibition.
*2011: BALLARAT INTERNATIONAL FOTO BIENNALE “The Nuba of Sudan.”
*2010: AUSTRALIAN CENTRE OF PHOTOGRAPHY “War: South.”
*2007: NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, ''Reveries: Photography And Mortality.''
*2007: NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA “Reveries: Photography And Mortality.”
*2007: UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY “State of Place: Refugee Life on the Thai-Burma Border.”
*2006: SHEFFIELD INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL “Vanessa, portrait of a transsexual dedicated to promoting awareness of HIV.”
*2006: FOTOFREO FESTIVAL Audio-visual projection of recent work.
*2005: POSITIVE LIVES Positive Responses to HIV. An exhibition in situ on the platform of Madrid's Central Railway Station.
*2004: VISA POUR L’IMAGE, PERPIGNAN, FRANCE Exhibition of 50 prints from personal book project “1200 Miles: Life and Death on the Thai-Burma Border.”
*2004: ACTIONAID XV International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok. An exhibition to expose the extreme stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.
*2004: UNITED NATIONS, New York, “Positive Lives.”
*2003: FIFTY CROWS “Social Change Photography” at the Fifty Crows Gallery in San Francisco.
*2002: NETWORK 21 EXHIBITION “21 years of Photojournalism.”
*2002: AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY “Witness: An Exhibition of Australian Photography.”
*2002: CONDE NAST TRAVELLER “Truth in Travel” A group exhibition in aid of the Tusk Trust, which supports the conservation of African wildlife.
*2001: SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL GALLERY “Positive Lives.”
*2000: THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM “Body Art,” an exhibition about body adornment among indigenous peoples around the world.
*1999: LEICA/CCP Documentary Photography Exhibition and Award at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne.
*1999: REPORTAGE “A celebration of Australian Photojournalism.”
*1995: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL “YES” an exhibition of photographs dedicated to the resilience of the human spirit at the Myer Gallery, Melbourne.
*1995: VISA POUR L’IMAGE PERPIGNAN, FRANCE “Genocide Rwanda” Audiovisual projection.
Selected awards
*1998/1999: Australian Best Commissioned Magazine Photography - Portraiture.
*1999: Leica/ CCP Documentary Photography Exhibition and Award - Finalist.
*IFDP (International Fund for Documentary Photography) award for photographic essay ''Living with Aids'' on Thailand.
*Pictures of the Year International (U.S.) 56th POYi - "Riders of the Sea", Dhow boats in Zanzibar.
*Pictures of the Year International (U.S.) - "War Children of Bosnia".
*Pictures of the Year International (U.S.) 59th POYi - "Surviving Aids".
*1999: World Press Photo Awards (Holland) - Honorable Mention, News category.
*1998: World Press Photo Awards (Holland) - 1st Place, Daily Life category.
*2006: UNESCO HPA (Humanity Photo Awards) - 1st Place, Documentary Award, Daily Life category, "The Mountain People Time Forgot - The Nuba of Sudan".
*2009: PX3 , Prix de la Photographie Paris – 1st Place Water.
*2009: Amnesty International Media Award Finalist for "Excellence in Human Rights Reporting" (multimedia category) on post-election violence in Kenya.
*2010: Walkley Awards, Australia, Finalist for Photographic Essay ''Battle for Bangkok'' on 2010 political insurrection in Thailand.
References
External links
*
Reportage Photography Workshops official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Picone, Jack
Australian photographers
1958 births
Living people
Expatriate photographers in Sudan