Michael Christopher Brown

Michael Christopher Brown (born December 18, 1978) is an American photographer represented by Magnum Photos.[1] He is known for his documentation of the 2011 Libyan Civil War[2] and the resulting monograph, Libyan Sugar, published in May 2016.[3] Brown was raised in the Skagit Valley, a farming community in Washington.[4]

Career

Brown earned an M.A. in Visual Communication from Ohio University in 2003, then worked as a photography intern at The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois.[5] In late 2004 he was given a photography internship with National Geographic[5] and he has since completed adventure stories and other projects as a contributing photographer there. Brown is also a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and other publications.[5]

After moving to New York City in 2006, Brown worked as a photographer with the Italian photo agency Grazia Neri.[6] He then moved to Beijing, China, in 2009 and over the next two years put together a series of works from road and train trips across the country.

In 2010, Brown began taking pictures with an iPhone, spending two months in his Jinbei van driving around eastern China. Since then he produced camera phone photographs in Libya, Egypt, Cuba, Thailand, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic and the United States of America. Brown's ability to capture critical moments with an iPhone has led to his involvement with Time, The New York Times Magazine, and National Geographic's social media platforms.[7] Through these platforms he is able to reach millions of followers to inform and educate on social and political issues in remote and under-reported areas of the world.[7]

In 2011, Brown spent seven months in Libya photographing the Libyan Revolution,[8] exploring ethical distance and the iconography of warfare.[9] He covered several battles along the coast, was ambushed several times in Eastern Libya and injured twice.[10] In early March, on the frontline near the eastern town of Bin Jawad, he was shot in the leg by an AK-47 during a Government offensive. Six weeks later, while covering the Siege of Misrata, he was injured by incoming mortar fire and took four pieces of shrapnel to the chest, shoulder and arm, losing nearly half the blood in his body and requiring two transfusions.[11] His colleagues Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros were both killed in the same attack.[12][13] Brown returned to Libya twice in 2012 and was the subject of the Michael Mann directed HBO documentary series Witness: Libya.[14]

Brown's photobook Libyan Sugar was released in May 2016, a film and a mixed media installation will complete the project.[14] In a lengthy review of Libyan Sugar for Time, Anastasia Taylor-Lind praises its authenticity, rawness, and self-awareness, concluding by saying that it is comparable with Stanley Greene's photobook Black Passport.[15] Writing for the Houston Center for Photography, Jonathan Blaustein says:

The book is taut, arresting, jarring. Choose your adjective. But you should look at it anyway, because just as Michael Christopher Brown’s time in Libya, 5 years ago, changed him forever, perhaps seeing the results might change you too.[16]

Libyan Sugar won the Paris Photo First Photobook Award[17] and the International Center of Photography's 2017 Infinity Award for Artist's Book.[18]

Brown is working on book/film projects in both Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Cuba. He has documented conflict in the Kivu provinces of the DRC since 2012, lived in Goma and is producing a series of four books, two of which consist solely of collected work within Congo.[7] Since early 2015, Brown has produced a book and four-channel video installation, Paradiso, profiling the electronica music and youth scene in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana.

Brown joined Magnum Photos as a nominee in 2013.[1]

Publications

Publications by Brown

Publications with contributions by Brown

Films

Film by Brown

Film about Brown

Films with contributions by Brown

Group exhibitions

References

  1. 1 2 Olivier Laurent (2013-07-01). "Michael Christopher Brown joins Magnum Photos [update]". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  2. ↑ Bruno Bayley (2016-04-25). "A War Photographer Talks About the Demands of Documenting Conflict". Vice. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  3. ↑ Coralie Kraft. "Libyan Sugar". LensCulture. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  4. ↑ "Magnum Photos: Profile of Michael Christopher Brown". Magnum Photos. June 12, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Michael Brown", National Geographic
  6. ↑ "Michael Christopher Brown: Sakhalin", Burn, 25 May 2009. Accessed 23 February 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 Karen Brost (2013-05-15). "Witness to the World: Photojournalist Michael Christopher Brown Puts Conflict in Focus". JetsetMag.com. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  8. ↑ Ruby Love. "Michael Christopher Brown on Living and Working in the DRC". Fstoppers. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  9. ↑ McClell, Nicholas Hegel. "The War in Libya: Photographs by Michael Christopher Brown". Time. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  10. ↑ "The Realities of a Revolution: The Libyan Crisis". ABC News. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  11. ↑ Basu, Moni. "Surviving one of photojournalism's darkest moments". CNN. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  12. ↑ Dunlap, David W.; Estrin, James; MacDonald, Kerri (April 22, 2011). "At 27, Guy Martin Becomes a Veteran". Lens Blog. The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  13. ↑ Staff writer (22 April 2011). "Bodies of Two Photographers Killed in Libya Arrive in Benghazi". CNN. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  14. 1 2 Maria Lokke (2012-11-12). "Witness: Libya". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  15. ↑ Anastasia Taylor-Lind, "War stories shouldn’t be easy, true war stories never are", Time, 20 August 2016. Accessed 23 February 2017.
  16. ↑ Jonathan Blaustein, "Libyan Sugar: Jonathan Blaustein Book Review", Houston Center for Photography, 2016. Accessed 23 February 2017.
  17. ↑ Tom Seymour, "Libyan Sugar wins Paris Photo First PhotoBook Award, British Journal of Photography, 14 November 2016. Accessed 23 February 2017.
  18. ↑ 2017 Infinity Award: Artist's Book — Michael Christopher Brown, Libyan Sugar (Twin Palms, 2016)", International Center of Photography, 11 January 2017. Accessed 23 February 2017.
  19. ↑ Lokke, Maria (12 November 2012). "Witness: Libya". New York: The New Yorker. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  20. ↑ "Simply Beautiful" Steven Kasher Gallery. Accessed 24 February 2017.
  21. ↑ "Revolucione(s). From the frontlines to the walls of Instituto Cervantes." Instituto Cervantes. Accessed 24 February 2017.
  22. ↑ "WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath" Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Accessed 24 February 2017.
  23. ↑ "The Arc of War at the Brooklyn Museum" Art in America. Accessed 24 February 2017.
  24. ↑ "War/Photography" Annenberg Space for Photography. Accessed 24 February 2017.
  25. ↑ "WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath" Brooklyn Museum of Art. Accessed 24 February 2017.
  26. ↑ Johnson, Ken (14 November 2013). "Poignant Images, With Posterity the Ultimate Winner: ‘War/Photography’ at the Brooklyn Museum". New York: The New York Times. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  27. ↑ "Simply Beautiful" International Center of Photography. Accessed 24 February 2017.
  28. ↑ "Magnum Photographers Show How Covering Civil War Has Changed" Slate (magazine), 21 July 2015. Accessed 24 February 2017.
  29. ↑ "Odyssey Europe: Exile and Refuge Since 1945" Magnum Photos. Accessed 24 February 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.