Peter van Agtmael explained

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, graduating in 2003. He became a nominee member of Magnum Photos in 2008, an associate member in 2011, and a full member in 2013.^{[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; the Asian tsunami in 2005; humanitarian relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina's effects on New Orleans in 2005 and after the 2010 Haiti earthquake,^[29] the filming of the first season of TV series Treme on location in New Orleans in 2010; the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and its aftermath, Nabi Salih and Halamish in the West Bank in 2013 and the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict and its aftermath.

Since 2006 he has concentrated on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their consequences in the United States. 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. Later he continued to investigate the effects of those wars within the US. In 2007 his portfolio from Iraq and Afghanistan won the Monograph Award (softbound) in Photolucida's Critical Mass Book Award. 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." The 2012 W. Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography provided $30,000 to work on his second book, Disco Night Sept. 11, which "chronicles the lives of the soldiers he has met in the field and back home."

Publications

Publications by van Agtmael

• 2nd Tour Hope I Don't Die. Portland, OR: Photolucida, 2009. .
• Disco Night Sept. 11. Brooklyn: Red Hook, 2014. .
• Buzzing at the Sill. Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer Verlag, 2016. .
• Sorry for the War. Mass, 2021.^{[31] [32] [33]}
• Look at the U.S.A.. Thames & Hudson, 2024. .^{[34] [35]}

Publications with contributions by van Agtmael

• 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers, Volume 2. New York: powerHouse, 2008. . 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. .
• The Contact Sheet. Pasadena, CA: Ammo, 2012. . Edited by Steve Crist.
• Photographs Not Taken. New York: Daylight, 2012. . Edited by Will Steacy.
• Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. . Edited by Michael Kamber, foreword by Dexter Filkins.
• Photographers' Sketchbooks. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. . 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.
• 2007: Second prize, General News stories category, World Press Photo Awards, World Press Photo, Amsterdam, for a series depicting night raids in Iraq.
• 2007: Monograph Award (softbound), Critical Mass Book Award, Photolucida.
• 2008: Grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Washington, D.C.
• 2011: Infinity Award, Young Photographer category, International Center of Photography, New York.
• 2012: W. Eugene Smith Grant from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.
• 2014: Second prize, Observed Portraits category, World Press Photo Awards, World Press Photo, Amsterdam.
• 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]

External links

• • Van Agtmael's profile at Magnum Photos
• Battlespace exhibition

Notes and References

1. News: Showcase: '2nd Tour, Hope I Don't Die'. 3 November 2009 . 16 January 2015 . Niko . Koppel . .
2. News: The Ultimate Burden. 24 August 2009 . 16 January 2015 . Bob . Herbert . Bob Herbert . .
3. Web site: Peter van Agtmael Won't Deny the Strange Allure of War. Bruno . Bayley . 15 May 2013 . 17 January 2015 . .
4. Web site: Peter van Agtmael. 30 May 2014 . 17 January 2015 . Alessia . Glaviano . .
5. News: These Photos show the Harsh Reality of War in Iraq and Afghanistan. 4 August 2014 . 16 January 2015 . Harrison . Jacobs . .
6. Web site: 2018-04-30. Magnum Photos appoints new full members – British Journal of Photography. www.bjp-online.com.
7. News: On the Ground in Israel and Gaza: Two photographers capture scenes from the most recent outbreak of war.. 28 August 2014 . 19 January 2015 . Jodi . Rudoren . .
8. News: The Resisters. 17 March 2013 . 19 January 2015 . .
9. News: Exclusive Photos: The Oil Spill Spreads. 19 January 2015 . .
10. News: Inside Gaza with Photographer Peter van Agtmael. https://web.archive.org/web/20141127015935/http://lightbox.time.com/2014/11/24/inside-gaza-peter-van-agtmael/#4 . dead . November 27, 2014 . 24 November 2014 . 19 January 2015 . Karl . Vick . .
11. News: Staten Island in the Wake of Sandy. 5 February 2013 . 17 January 2015 . Elissa . Curtis . .
12. News: Behind-the-scenes photographs of David Simon's new drama, 'Treme'. 4 May 2010 . 17 January 2015 . David . Simon . David Simon . .
13. Web site: Peter van Agtmael's Disco Night Sept 11. 13 May 2014 . 16 January 2015 . Olivier . Laurent . .
14. News: Peter van Agtmael's Journey Through War. 17 January 2015 . .
15. Web site: Life through the Eyes of a War Photographer. 17 June 2014 . 17 January 2015 . David . Rosenberg . .
16. Web site: Critical Mass Books: 2nd Tour Hope I Don't Die. 17 January 2015 . Photolucida .
17. Web site: Critical Mass Winners: Findings, Cage Call & Perfectible Worlds. 1 October 2008 . 17 January 2015 . Photo-Eye .
18. Web site: 2012: Peter van Agtmael. 16 January 2015 . .
19. Web site: Peter van Agtmael - Fotografie - Bücher - Kehrer Verlag. 13 February 2018 .
20. Web site: 2006, Peter van Agtmael, 2nd prize, General News stories. 16 January 2015 . World Press Photo.
21. Web site: 2014, Observed Portraits, 2nd prize stories, Peter van Agtmael. 16 January 2015 . World Press Photo.
22. Web site: Peter van Agtmael. 16 January 2015 . .
23. Web site: Peter van Agtmael. 16 January 2015 . Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
24. News: The Pictures of War You Aren't Supposed to See. 4 January 2010 . 16 January 2015 . Chris . Hedges . Chris Hedges . .
25. News: A Photographer's Unfiltered Account of the Iraq War. 15 May 2013 . 19 January 2015 . .
26. News: Young Magnum: The hotshots ready to take their place in history. 9 December 2012 . 17 January 2015 . Peter . Popham . .
27. Web site: Magnum Photos Adds Olivia Arthur and Peter van Agtmael as Full Members. Stephanie . Murg . 9 July 2013 . 16 January 2015 . .
28. News: Interview: The human face of war. 17 March 2010 . 17 January 2015 . Robin . Lindley . .
29. News: The Convoy to Nowhere. 28 January 2010 . 19 January 2015 . Staff writer . .
30. News: 2nd Tour, Hope I Don't Die. 17 January 2015 . .
31. Web site: Luke. Mogelson. 2021-04-01. Peter van Agtmael’s Absurd, Grotesque Chronicle of the Fallout from the Iraq War. The New Yorker.
32. Web site: Allison. Schaller. 2021-04-01. “I Understood the World Had Irrevocably Changed”: The Myth of America Post-9/11. Vanity Fair.
33. Web site: 2021-04-01. A Photographer's Unflinching Gaze on The War on Terror's Consequences. Time.
34. News: O’Hagan . Sean . 2024-03-30 . ‘I was always an uncertain and confused observer’: war photographer Peter van Agtmael on decades on the frontline . 2024-04-18 . The Observer . en-GB . 0029-7712.
35. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/usa-iraq-afghanistan-thames-hudson-b2526435.html
36. Web site: 2021-04-01. John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
37. "Battlespace - Unrealities of war: Photographs from Iraq and Afghanistan ", Prix Bayeux-Calvados. Accessed 17 January 2015.
38. "Bringing the War Home ", Impressions Gallery. Accessed 3 December 2014.