There has never been a more important time for acknowledging and investigating the crucial role of conflict photography in shaping our understanding of international affairs and faraway crises.
Presenters: Dr. Lauren Walsh Nina Berman Spencer Platt Maryanne Golon
Location: St. Ann’s Warehouse
Presented by:
Supported by:
Photoville Talks at St. Ann’s Warehouse are produced by United Photo Industries and supported in part by PhotoWings and the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation.
This panel brings together a scholar, photographers, and a director of photography, and explores the complexities and ethical dilemmas of conflict photography in the contemporary moment. The tools of warfare include chemical weapons, terrorists compete using visual propaganda, and media literacy lags. The critical line between documentation and exploitation is trickier than ever to define.
This conversation among experts presents a penetrating look at the struggles of the craft and the practitioners who keep it alive, from brushes with death on the frontlines, to the battles for space, resources, and attention in the media. Despite these obstacles, they remain true to a purpose, one that is palpable as they celebrate the crucial value of journalism alongside remarkable success stories: from changing the life of a single individual, to raising broad awareness about human rights issues.
Dr. Lauren Walsh is a professor at New York University and the founder and director of the NYU Gallatin Photojournalism Intensive. She is also the director of Lost Rolls America, a national archive of photography and memory. Walsh is the author of multiple books, including Conversations on Conflict Photography and Through the Lens: The Pandemic and Black Lives Matter, as well as publications on topics ranging from photojournalism and moral injury to documentation of war crimes to censorship. In addition to her appearances on CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, Walsh has appeared as an expert on photography in radio programs, podcasts, and films; and she lectures and leads workshops around the world, with an emphasis on photography ethics, visual literacy, and/or journalism safety and emotional wellbeing. Walsh specializes in conflict/crisis photography and peace journalism.
Nina Berman is an American photographer who has covered the conflict in Bosnia and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. She now focuses attention on the aftermath of war and contemporary political, and social landscapes in the U.S. Her photographs and videos have been exhibited at over one hundred venues worldwide, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Poland, and Dublin Contemporary (IMMA).
She has received awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Open Society Foundations, World Press Photo, and Hasselblad, among others. She is an associate professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and she is a member of NOOR photo agency.
Spencer Platt, a photojournalist on staff with the Getty Images wire service, has covered the Iraq War, the plight of displaced Congolese, the minority Kurds in Turkey, the conflict in the Central African Republic, continued fighting in Gaza, Syrians displaced by the country’s ongoing civil war, the Peshmerga and refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the recent war in Ukraine, among other places and people in crisis.
Platt has won numerous honors for his work, including multiple awards from the Pictures of the Year International competition, and the NPPA Year in Pictures. In 2007, Platt received the World Press Photo of the Year award for an image taken in Beirut, Lebanon.
Maryanne Golon is director of photography at The Washington Post. She is a key member of the senior management team, and she is responsible for all aspects of photography across all platforms. She manages seventeen staff photojournalists, eighteen photography editors, and assigns scores of freelance photojournalists.
In 2019, photojournalist Carolyn Van Houten won the Robert Capa Gold medal from the Overseas Press Club, and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism prize for her photography of the migrant crisis. Photojournalist Lorenzo Tugnoli was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, and first place World Press Photo recognition for his coverage of the war in Yemen.
Golon was previously TIME Magazine’s director of photography and co-managed the international newsmagazine’s photography team for more than fifteen years. Golon has received numerous individual and team picture-editing awards from Pictures of the Year International and NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism competitions.
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