Larry Towell (born 1953) is a Canadian

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, and

oral historian Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

. Towell is known for his photographs of sites of political conflict in the Ukraine, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Standing Rock and Afghanistan, among others. In 1988, Towell became the first Canadian member of

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 "Chim" Seymour, Maria Eisn ...

Early life and education

Towell was born in

Chatham-Kent, Ontario Chatham-Kent ( 2021 population: 104,316)Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, attending local schools. At college, he studied visual arts at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

in Toronto, where his interest in photography first began.

Life and work

In 1976 Towell volunteered to work in Calcutta, India, where he became interested in questions about the distribution of wealth and issues of land and landlessness. Returning to Canada, he taught folk music and wrote poetry during the 1980s. Towell became a freelance photographer in 1984. His early work included projects on the Contra war in Nicaragua, the civil war in El Salvador, relatives of the disappeared in Guatemala, and American

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

veterans who worked to rebuild Vietnam. In 1988, Towell joined the

agency, becoming the first Canadian associated with the group. His first magazine essay looked at the ecological damages from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He has since had picture essays published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

,'' ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

,'' ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

,'' and other magazines. His work has included documentation of the

Palestinian-Israeli conflict The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radi ...

migrant workers A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers who work outsi ...

in Mexico, and a personal project on his family's farm in southern Ontario. From 2008 to 2011, Towell traveled five times to Afghanistan to photograph the social effects of the Afghan civil war. Between 2013 and 2015, he photographed the above and underground construction work in Toronto's

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

. In 2015 his photo ''Isaac's first swim'' was published by ''

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

'' as a stamp. In 2016 Towell photographed the Standing Rock protest in Standing Rock, North Dakota. He works in both film and digital photography formats. He has said "Black and white is still the poetic form of photography. Digital is for the moment; black and white is an investment of time and love." He has also worked with panoramic cameras to document the impact of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Towell has published books of photographs, poetry, and oral history. He has also recorded several audio CDs of original poetry and songs.

Personal life

Towell lives in rural

Lambton County Lambton County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is bordered on the north by Lake Huron, which is drained by the St. Clair River, the county's western border and part of the Canada-United States border. To the south is Lake Saint Cl ...

Ontario and sharecrops a 75-acre farm with his wife Ann and their four children.

Publications

* ''Burning Cadillacs'' (1983) * ''Gifts of War'' (1988) * ''Somoza's Last Stand'' (1990) * ''The Prison Poems of Ho Chi Minh'' (1992) * ''House on Ninth Street'' (1994) * ''El Salvador'' (1997) * ''Then Palestine'' (1999) * ''The Mennonites'' (2000) **Second edition. London: Gost, 2022. . Re-edited, re-sequenced and with 40 new images. * ''No Man's Land'' (2005) * ''In the Wake of Katrina'' (2006) * ''The World From My Front Porch'' (2008) * * ''Ruins: Afghanistan'' (2009)

Films

*''Indecisive Moments: Video Diary of a Still Photographer'' (2007) – 40 minute video diary made in the

Israeli-occupied territories Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...

Awards

*1991: Silver Medal, Canadian National Awards *1991: Grant of $2500 from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund to make work about the

Nahuas The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, a ...

in El Salvador *1991/93: Gold Medal, Western Canada Magazine Awards *1993: 1st Prize, Daily Life Stories category,

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...

*1994: Winner,

World Press Photo of the Year The World Press Photo of the Year award is part of the World Press Photo Awards, organized by the Dutch foundation World Press Photo. Considered one of the most prestigious and coveted awards in photojournalism, The World Press Photo of the Ye ...

and General News Stories category *1994: 1st Prize, World Press Photo, Daily Life Stories category *1994: Picture of the Year, Canon Photo Essay Award *1994/95: Gold Medal, Canadian National Awards *1995: Photographers' work grant, The Ernst Haas Awards, Maine Photographic Workshops *1996: El Mundo Award *1996: Oskar Barnack Award *1997: Golden Light (Best Monograph Award) *1998: Society of Publication Designers, Merit Award, ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'' *1998:

Society of Publication Designers A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

, Magazine of the Year, ''

'' *1998:

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

, New York, Citation of Excellence *1998: Pictoral Prize, Pictures of the Year Foundation, University of Missouri *1998: 1st Prize, Portraiture Essay category,

Alfred Eisenstaedt Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 – August 23, 1995) was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. He began his career in Germany prior to World War II but achieved prominence as a staff photographer for ''Life'' magazine af ...

Awards for Magazine Photography, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism *1999: Picture Of the Year (Best Use of Photography in Books) *1999: Roloff Beny Book Award *1999: Grant from 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 ...

, Gothenburg, Sweden *2000: Society for News Design Award, La Nacion *2003:

Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation The Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation (French: ''Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson''), also known as Fondation HCB, is an art gallery and non-profit organisation in Paris that was established to preserve and show the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson an ...

Award *2005:

Prix Nadar The Prix Nadar is an annual prize awarded for a photography book edited in France. The prize was created in 1955 by Association Gens d'Images and is awarded by a jury of photojournalists and publishing experts. The prize is named after Nadar, t ...

, for the book ''No Man's Land'' *2007: Finalist, Alicia Patterson Award, USA *2007: Achievement In Filmmaking Award, New York International Independent Film and Video Festival *2009: Shortlisted, And/or Photography Book Award, Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, UK for ''The World From My Front Porch'' *2011: The Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award, Ontario Arts Foundation

Exhibitions

* 1991: Le Mois de la Photo - Maison de la Culture Plateau, Montreal, Quebec, Canada * 1994: ''Carnets de Voyage'' -

Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP) (french: Le Musée canadien de la photographie contemporaine (MCPC)) was a gallery of Canadian contemporary art and documentary photography. Founded in 1985 and affiliated to the National Gall ...

, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada * 1994: ''Retrospective - Nieuwekerk,'' the Netherlands * 1997: Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain * 1997: Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen, Netherlands * 2001: Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada * 2001:

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

, Edinburgh, UK * 2005: ''No Man's Land'' - Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris * 2006: FOAM, Amsterdam, Netherlands * 2008:

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

, Rochester, New York * 2012: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

References

External links

Towell's page at Magnum PhotosFocus on Lune Froide : Larry Towell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Towell, Larry 1953 births Living people Canadian photographers Magnum photographers Photography in Afghanistan