LYNSEY ADDARIO
Theme exhibition: Democracy
For over two decades, American photojournalist Lynsey Addario (b. 1973) has created iconic images of the world’s most beleaguered places and its most vulnerable inhabitants. Her unflinching work spans more than eighty countries, serving as a historical record of our time and a call to action. Addario’s internationally published images shape our collective visual memory of catastrophic events, including war and conflict, famine and climate change, the ubiquitous plight of refugees and the internally displaced, maternal mortality, and unfathomable acts of conflict-based sexual violence on nearly every continent.
Most recognized for her photographs in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia—including a groundbreaking record of Afghani women’s lives under the Taliban— Addario was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2009, at age 36. She takes enormous risks to capture images in the most precarious conflict zones; Addario has been kidnapped twice, first in Iraq (2004), then in Libya (2011). Her work requires tremendous courage, resilience, physical strength, and an unwavering belief in the power of journalism:
“It’s still the ultimate reason why I cover anything dangerous and why I risk my life. I cannot believe that a person in a position of power who sees what’s happening— the gross injustices, human rights abuses, and deaths of women and children— won’t be moved to action. It’s unfathomable.”
– Lynsey Addario
As viewers become increasingly accustomed to depictions of suffering, Addario’s enduring preoccupation with the human cost of conflict is rendered as urgent through her lens. She captures both the consequences of conflict and the victims’ humanity:
“I am trying to convey beauty in images of war as a technique to prevent the reader from looking away or turning the page in response to something horrible. I want them to linger, to ask questions.”
– Lynsey Addario
In the tradition of concerned photographers, Addario’s images not only document our world but try to change it. In February 2022, Addario was one of the first foreign journalists to document the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Her photograph of a mother and her two children fleeing was taken seconds after they were killed. Published on the front page of The New York Times, it was one of the first widely-circulated images to capture the civilian cost of the conflict. Days later, the image was referenced in Congress and at a U.N. Security Council Meeting. As with many of her photographs, it became evidence of war crimes and a plea for accountability.
Addario’s 2015 New York Times bestselling memoir, It’s What I Do, chronicled her personal and professional life as a photojournalist. A collection of her photographs, Of Love & War, was published in 2018.
Don’t miss out on Lynsey Addario at Oslo Negativ: View the exhibition every Saturday & Sunday between October 14 and 29, and meet her in person exclusively on Saturday, Oct. 28!
Read more about Lynsey Addario here.
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Om utstillingen
Etter å ha dokumentert verden i over 20 år har Lynsey Addario nå produsert en omfattende retrospektiv utstilling. Den dekker de fleste store konfliktene hun har jobbet med, og ble i vår vist ved The School of Visual Arts i New York. Dette var deres mest besøkte utstilling noensinne, og ble besøk at blant andre Hillary Clinton. Prosjektet er en solid anerkjennelse av hennes arbeid, og denne type utstillinger kan være en mulighet til å stoppe opp, ta en pause og se tilbake på alt man har utrettet.
– Nei, det var det ikke tid til. Denne utstillingen ble til mens krigen i Ukraina pågikk, og jeg kuraterte i praksis utstillingen derfra. Det var bilder som skulle produseres og finansiering som skulle på plass mens jeg var på reise. I fjor sommer skulle jeg endelig ta litt ferie, men ble i stedet sittende ved datamaskinen for å få utstillingen i havn.
– Lynsey Addario
© Lynsey Addario
© Lynsey Addario
© Lynsey Addario
© Lynsey Addario