American photographer
Peter van Agtmael (born 1981) is a documentary photographer based in New York. Since 2006 he has concentrated on the wars in
Iraq and
Afghanistan , and their consequences in the United States.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5] He is a member of
Magnum Photos .
[6]
Van Agtmael's photo essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine ,
[7]
[8] Time ,
[9]
[10] The New Yorker
[11] and The Guardian .
[12] He has published three books.
[13]
[14]
[15] His first, 2nd Tour Hope I Don't Die , was published by Photolucida as a prize for winning their Critical Mass Book Award.
[16]
[17] He received a W. Eugene Smith Grant from the
W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund
[18] to complete his second book, Disco Night Sept. 11. His third, Buzzing at the Sill , was published by
Kehrer Verlag in 2016.
[19] He has twice received awards from
World Press Photo ,
[20]
[21] the Infinity Award for Young Photographer from the
International Center of Photography
[22] and a grant from the
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting ,
[23]
Life and work
Van Agtmael was born in Washington D.C.
[24] and grew up in
Bethesda, Maryland .
[25] He studied history at Yale,
[24] graduating in 2003. He became a nominee member of
Magnum Photos in 2008, an associate member in 2011, and a full member in 2013.
[6]
[26]
[27]
After graduation he received a fellowship to live in China for a year and document the consequences of the
Three Gorges Dam .
[28] He has covered
HIV -positive refugees in South Africa;
[3] the
Asian tsunami in 2005;
[3] humanitarian relief efforts after
Hurricane Katrina's effects on New Orleans in 2005
[28] and after the
2010 Haiti earthquake ,
[29] the filming of the first season of TV series
Treme on location in New Orleans in 2010;
[12] the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010,
[9]
Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and its aftermath,
[11]
Nabi Salih and
Halamish in the
West Bank in 2013
[8] and the
2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
[7] and its aftermath.
[10]
Since 2006 he has concentrated on the wars in
Iraq and
Afghanistan , and their consequences in the United States.
[1] He first visited Iraq in 2006 at age 24 and has returned to Iraq and Afghanistan a number of times,
embedded with US military troops.
[1] Later he continued to investigate the effects of those wars within the US.
[13] In 2007 his portfolio from Iraq and Afghanistan won the Monograph Award (softbound) in Photolucida's Critical Mass Book Award.
[16]
[17] As part of the prize Photolucida published his first book, 2nd Tour, Hope I Don’t Die . With work made between January 2006 and December 2008,
[30] this "is a young photojournalist’s firsthand experience: the wars’ effects on him, on the soldiers and on the countries involved."
[1] The 2012 W. Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography provided $30,000 to work on his second book,
[30] Disco Night Sept. 11 , which "chronicles the lives of the soldiers he has met in the field and back home."
[13]
Publications
Publications by van Agtmael
Publications with contributions by van Agtmael
25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers, Volume 2. New York:
powerHouse , 2008.
ISBN
978-1-57687-192-8 . Edited by Iris Tillman Hill, preface by
Lauren Greenfield , introduction by Tom Rankin.
A Year in Photography: Magnum Archive. Munich:
Prestel ; New York, Paris, London, Tokyo: Magnum, 2010.
ISBN
978-3-7913-4435-5 .
The Contact Sheet. Pasadena, CA: Ammo, 2012.
ISBN
9781934429082 . Edited by Steve Crist.
Photographs Not Taken. New York: Daylight, 2012.
ISBN
9780983231615 . Edited by
Will Steacy .
Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq. Austin:
University of Texas Press , 2013.
ISBN
9780292744080 . Edited by Michael Kamber, foreword by
Dexter Filkins .
Photographers' Sketchbooks. London:
Thames & Hudson , 2014.
ISBN
9780500544341 . Edited by Stephen McLaren and
Bryan Formhals .
Awards
2006: 25 Under 25: Up and Coming American Photographers, The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University,
Duke University , Durham, NC.[
citation needed ]
2007: Second prize, General News stories category, World Press Photo Awards,
World Press Photo , Amsterdam,
[20] for a series depicting night raids in Iraq.
2007: Monograph Award (softbound), Critical Mass Book Award, Photolucida.
[16]
[17]
2008: Grant from the
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting , Washington, D.C.
[23]
2011: Infinity Award, Young Photographer category,
International Center of Photography , New York.
[22]
2012:
W. Eugene Smith Grant from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.
[18]
2014: Second prize, Observed Portraits category, World Press Photo Awards, World Press Photo, Amsterdam.
[21]
2020:
Guggenheim Fellowship from the
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
[36]
Exhibitions with others
2009: Battlespace,
Prix Bayeux-Calvados , Bayeux, France, 5 October – 1 November 2009.
[37] Named after the military term
Battlespace .
2010: Bringing the War Home, Impressions Gallery, Bradford, England, 17 September – 14 November 2010. Curated by Pippa Oldfield. Also included photographs by
Sama Alshaibi ,
Farhad Ahrarnia ,
Lisa Barnard ,
Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin ,
Edmund Clark ,
Kay May ,
Asef Ali Mohammad and
Christopher Sims .
[38]
References
^
a
b
c
d Koppel, Niko (3 November 2009).
"Showcase: '2nd Tour, Hope I Don't Die' " .
The New York Times . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
Herbert, Bob (24 August 2009).
"The Ultimate Burden" .
The New York Times . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
a
b
c Bayley, Bruno (15 May 2013).
"Peter van Agtmael Won't Deny the Strange Allure of War" .
Vice . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^ Glaviano, Alessia (30 May 2014).
"Peter van Agtmael" .
Vogue Italia . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^ Jacobs, Harrison (4 August 2014).
"These Photos show the Harsh Reality of War in Iraq and Afghanistan" .
Business Insider . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
a
b
"Magnum Photos appoints new full members – British Journal of Photography" . www.bjp-online.com . Retrieved 2018-04-30 .
^
a
b Rudoren, Jodi (28 August 2014).
"On the Ground in Israel and Gaza: Two photographers capture scenes from the most recent outbreak of war" .
The New York Times . Retrieved 19 January 2015 .
^
a
b
"The Resisters" .
The New York Times . 17 March 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2015 .
^
a
b
"Exclusive Photos: The Oil Spill Spreads" .
Time . Retrieved 19 January 2015 .
^
a
b Vick, Karl (24 November 2014).
"Inside Gaza with Photographer Peter van Agtmael" .
Time . Archived from
the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2015 .
^
a
b Curtis, Elissa (5 February 2013).
"Staten Island in the Wake of Sandy" .
The New Yorker . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^
a
b
Simon, David (4 May 2010).
"Behind-the-scenes photographs of David Simon's new drama, 'Treme' " .
The Guardian . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^
a
b
c Laurent, Olivier (13 May 2014).
"Peter van Agtmael's Disco Night Sept 11" .
British Journal of Photography . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
"Peter van Agtmael's Journey Through War" .
Time . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^ Rosenberg, David (17 June 2014).
"Life through the Eyes of a War Photographer" .
Slate . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^
a
b
c
"Critical Mass Books: 2nd Tour Hope I Don't Die" . Photolucida. Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^
a
b
c
"Critical Mass Winners: Findings, Cage Call & Perfectible Worlds" . Photo-Eye. 1 October 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^
a
b
"2012: Peter van Agtmael" .
W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
"Peter van Agtmael - Fotografie - Bücher - Kehrer Verlag" . Retrieved 13 February 2018 .
^
a
b
"2006, Peter van Agtmael, 2nd prize, General News stories" .
World Press Photo . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
a
b
"2014, Observed Portraits, 2nd prize stories, Peter van Agtmael" .
World Press Photo . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
a
b
"Peter van Agtmael" .
International Center of Photography . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
a
b
"Peter van Agtmael" .
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
a
b
Hedges, Chris (4 January 2010).
"The Pictures of War You Aren't Supposed to See" .
Truthdig . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
"A Photographer's Unfiltered Account of the Iraq War" .
The New York Times . 15 May 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2015 .
^ Popham, Peter (9 December 2012).
"Young Magnum: The hotshots ready to take their place in history" .
The Independent . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^ Murg, Stephanie (9 July 2013).
"Magnum Photos Adds Olivia Arthur and Peter van Agtmael as Full Members" .
Adweek . Retrieved 16 January 2015 .
^
a
b Lindley, Robin (17 March 2010).
"Interview: The human face of war" .
Real Change . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^ Staff writer (28 January 2010).
"The Convoy to Nowhere" .
The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 19 January 2015 .
^
a
b
"2nd Tour, Hope I Don't Die" .
Mother Jones . Retrieved 17 January 2015 .
^ Mogelson, Luke.
"Peter van Agtmael's Absurd, Grotesque Chronicle of the Fallout from the Iraq War" . The New Yorker . Retrieved 2021-04-01 .
^ Schaller, Allison.
" "I Understood the World Had Irrevocably Changed": The Myth of America Post-9/11" . Vanity Fair . Retrieved 2021-04-01 .
^
"A Photographer's Unflinching Gaze on The War on Terror's Consequences" . Time . Retrieved 2021-04-01 .
^ O’Hagan, Sean (2024-03-30).
" 'I was always an uncertain and confused observer': war photographer Peter van Agtmael on decades on the frontline" . The Observer .
ISSN
0029-7712 . Retrieved 2024-04-18 .
^
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/usa-iraq-afghanistan-thames-hudson-b2526435.html
^
"John Simon Guggenheim Foundation" . Retrieved 2021-04-01 .
^ "
Battlespace - Unrealities of war: Photographs from Iraq and Afghanistan
Archived 2015-01-19 at the
Wayback Machine ", Prix Bayeux-Calvados. Accessed 17 January 2015.
^ "
Bringing the War Home
Archived 2016-03-04 at the
Wayback Machine ",
Impressions Gallery . Accessed 3 December 2014.
External links
International National Artists