The Magnum Digest: September 18, 2020
Enri Canaj on the aftermath of the Moria camp inferno, Christopher Anderson’s portraits for The Cut and M, Paolo Pellegrin photographs Villa Medici director, plus more of the latest this week
Enri Canaj’s documentation of fire at Moria camp in L’Obs
L’Obs recently published a feature covering the fire at Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, using Magnum photographer Enri Canaj’s images and reflections. The story covers the disaster itself, that began during the night of September 8, as well as how the camp’s occupants have been coping in its immediate aftermath. The Albanian photographer has been travelling to Lesbos for 8 years, and documenting migration for over a decade. See the piece online here, and in next week’s printed edition of the magazine. Read more on Canaj’s work on the topic of migration here.
Christopher Anderson photographs influential figures in fashion for The Cut
New York magazine’s online portal on fashion, The Cut, has featured portraits by Christopher Anderson of designers Rick Owens and Marc Jacobs, and Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele. The photographs, taken remotely, use a technique Anderson has been developing in response to travel restrictions and distancing measures during the pandemic, which he previously employed to photograph Marga Griesbach for the magazine. Read the profile of Rick Owens here, of Marc Jacobs here, and of Alessandro Michele, here.
Images by Christopher Anderson also feature inside and on the cover of M — Le Monde’s weekend magazine. Anderson photographed the cultural critic and writer Thomas Chatterton Williams, who authored the 2019 book, Self-Portrait in Black and White. Read the feature in print this weekend, and online here.
Paolo Pellegrin photographs Sam Stourdzé for Le Monde
Sam Stourdzé, former director of the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, recently stepped up as the new director of the Villa Medici in Rome. The villa houses the French Academy in Rome, a prestigious institution for French artists recognized for their exceptional abilities in range of arts. Paolo Pellegrin was on assignment at the Villa Medici to photograph Stourdzé this week. See his image and read the profile here.
The Guardian explores René Burri’s ‘colorful side’
Through 15 images The Guardian reflect on the variety of work made by René Burri, with particular focus on his lesser known color photography. Best recognised perhaps for his celebrity portraits, social-architectural works on topics like Brasilia and Le Corbusier, and his stark black and white work – this curation dips into his vibrant color archive. See the full selection of images here, and learn more about Burri’s work on Brasilia here, on Magnum.
Alessandra Sanguinetti on La Nacion
Spanish speakers can read in the Argentine paper La Nacion about Alessandra Sanguinetti’s latest instalment of her long-running project on Guille and Belinda – two women she first started photographing as children, now themselves adults. The first publication from the series, The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and The Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams, focused on the pair as children on the cusp of womanhood, while the second – newly published by MACK and titled The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer, brings the reader up speed with the pair’s lives. You can learn more here on La Nacion.
Alec Soth on Creative Review
As the work from Soth’s most recent book, I know how furiously your heart is beating, goes on show at Foam in Amsterdam, the photographer speaks to Creative Review about making images in homes. Previously best known for making rangy works via his personal interpretation of the American road trip photographic tradition, Soth’s intimate portraits of subjects in their own homes has taken on new meaning for him in the time of global lockdown. Read the feature here on Creative Review.
Robert Capa exhibition at New Synagogue in Berlin
An exhibition of Robert Capa’s photographs of liberated Berlin during the summer of 1945 is on show at the New Synagogue in the German capital. The images, many of which are lesser-known, show the ruins of the city and the lives of Jewish communities. Deutsche Welle went to the exhibition and interviewed curator Chana Shutz in a film which you can watch on their website here.
The Herald reviews Magnum Artists book
David Pratt of Scottish newspaper The Herald has reviewed Magnum’s latest book showcasing portraits of icons in the fine art world, portrayed by Magnum photographers. Pratt said, “It is testimony… to the humanism and skill of the photographers from the renowned Magnum Agency that for so many decades they have been able not only to penetrate these inner sanctums of creativity, but simultaneously, through their images, to peek inside the minds of such great artists.” Read more here.
