Larry TowellPhotojournalist Larry Towell will present photographs and stories of his experiences in Afghanistan, Ukraine and Palestine on Monday, October 6.

Photojournalist to discuss war zone experiences

Award-winning photojournalist Larry Towell will discuss what he has seen through his viewfinder in a free public talk entitled “Another side of war: photographs and stories of Afghanistan, Ukraine, Palestine,” on Monday, October 6, at 7 p.m. at Mackenzie Hall Cultural Centre.

UWindsor instructor Marty Gervais calls Towell probably the world’s best-known photojournalist.

“He seems always to be in the right place at the right time with a camera in his hand, and what he comes away with are the most dynamic behind-the-scenes photographs of places that in the headline news,” says Gervais. “His journeys have taken him to Afghanistan, Ukraine, Palestine and Nicaragua, and in each and every case, the pictures peel away the grim personal realities of these places. But Larry’s camera also comes alive in his neighbourhood, a farm in Lambton County where he also photographs his wife and his children.”

Towell’s photographic work has been shaped by his experience as a poet and a folk musician, exhibited everywhere from the Royal Ontario Museum to the Getty Museum, from the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo to the United Nations in New York, and published in Life, Time, Rolling Stone, Stern, Le Monde, Paris Match, Granta, and in numerous books.

His appearance in Windsor is sponsored by the digital journalism program, the English department, and the City of Windsor’s cultural affairs office, and funded by the Pat Sturn Memorial Endowment. Mackenzie Hall is located at 3277 Sandwich Street.

Towell will also conduct a workshop for all interested students on Tuesday, October 7, from 10 a.m. to noon, in Studio B, Lambton Tower.