Jane Evelyn Atwood (born 1947) is an American photographer, who has been living in Paris since 1971. Working primarily with documentary photography, Atwood typically follows groups of people or individuals, focusing mostly on people who are on the fringes of society. Atwood has had ten books of her work published, and received the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, the Grand Prix Paris Match for Photojournalism, the

Oskar Barnack Award The Leica Oskar Barnack Award, presented almost continuously since 1979, recognizes photography expressing the relationship between man and the environment. It was known as the Oskar Barnack Award when presented by World Press Photo between 1979 an ...

, the Alfred Eisenstadt Award and the

Hasselblad Foundation The Hasselblad Foundation (in full: Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation), established in 1979 at the will of Victor Hasselblad, is a fully independent, not-for-profit foundation based at Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden. The main aim of the F ...

Grant twice.

Career

Atwood acquired her first camera in 1975, with which she began to photograph a group of prostitutes in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1980, she obtained a grant from the

W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund is an organisation established to encourage and support individuals who are active in the field of photography for humanitarian purposes. It gives out the W. Eugene Smith Grant and Howard Chapnick Grant. Since 1979 ...

for a project she had started about blind children. Until then, she had never published a photograph.''Galerie in camera: Jane Evelyn Atwood''. Éditions Xavier Barral, 2011.

"Too Much Time: Women in Prison"

In 1989, Atwood photographed women in prison for a ten-year-long photography study. She became inspired to accomplish this project after French prisons first refused her access to the men's quarters because she was a woman. She obtained access to more than 40 prisons, including the toughest prisons in Eastern and Western Europe and in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, as well as

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

. ''Too Much Time: Women in Prison'' is a ten-year photographic documentary study about women's experiences in prison and provides the readers with an exclusive insight on the treatment of inmates in a collection of 150 black and white photographs she took while meeting with prisoners who had agreed to be published in her book. Written between the pictures are the women's stories, presented in Tony Parker's lengthy interview style.

"Rue des Lombards" and Other Works

Other themes of Atwood's works include prostitutes in

(''Rue des Lombards,'' 1976), blind children,

Darfur Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju, ...

, and

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. Atwood also did a four-year study of destruction caused by landmines 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 ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

(''The Tncreasing Anonymity of the Enemy''). In addition, Atwood participated in neo-media projects organized by the French photography institution

24h.com 24h (24h.com) is a photography program established by the French photography magazine Photographie.com and kicked off in October 2010 commissioning photographers to document specific events around the globe. During each event, selected photographer ...

. In 2008, Atwood presented her work at the

Rencontres d'Arles The Rencontres d’Arles (formerly called ''Rencontres internationales de la photographie d’Arles'') is an annual summer photography festival founded in 1970 by the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historia ...

festival in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Publications

*''Rue des Lombards.'' **1976. **Re-edited version. Editions Xavier Barral, 2011. *''Dialogues de Nuit.'' Éditions Jean-Jacques Pauvert/Ramsay, 1981. *''Nachtlicher Alltag.'' Mahnert-Lueg Verlag, 1981. *''Legionnaires.'' France: Hologramme, 1986. *''Exterieur Nuit.'' France: Éditions Actes Sud, Photo Poche Société, Centre National de Photo, 1998. *''Too Much Time: Women in Prison.'' **''Too Much Time: Women in Prison.'' Phaidon, 2000. **''Trop de Peines, Femmes en Prison.'' France: Editions Albin Michel. *''Sentinelles de l'ombre.'' Éditions du Seuil, 2004. Photographs and texts about landmine victims in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, and

. *''A Contre Coups.'' Éditions Xavier Barral, 2006. In collaboration with Annette Lucas. *''Haiti.'' France: Actes Sud, Arles, 2008. *''Badate.'' Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2008. A story of the immigration phenomenon of Ukrainian women who care for the Italian elderly. *''Jane Evelyn Atwood.'' Actes Sud, 2010. PhotoPoche series #125.

Awards

*1980: W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography,

. *1983: Grant Fiacre of Culture Ministry, France. *1987: 3rd prize, Daily Life stories, World Press Photo Awards, World Press Photo, Amsterdam. *1988: Fiacre Grant of Culture Ministry, France. *1990: Paris-Match of Journalism Photo Award. *1994:

Grant. *1996: Marc Flament of Ministry Defence Award. *1996: Grand Prix du Portfolio de la Societe Civile des Auteurs Multimedia (SCAM). *1997:

Leica Camera Leica Camera AG () is a German company that manufactures cameras, optical lenses, photographic lenses, binoculars, Telescopic sight, rifle scopes and microscopes. The company was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869 (Ernst Leitz Wetzlar), in Wetz ...

. *1998: Alfred Eisenstadt Award for Magazine Photography. *2000: France Info Radio Award for "Trop de Peines, Femmes en Prison". *2003: Hasselblad Foundation Grant. *2005: Charles Flint Kellog Award in Arts and Letters, Bard College.

Exhibitions

*2011: ''Photographs 1976-2010'', Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris. A retrospective.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atwood, Jane Evelyn American photojournalists Living people American women photographers 1947 births American emigrants to France Women photojournalists Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres