Larry Towell:The World From My Front Porch@ The McDonough Museum In Youngstown

Larry Towell (Canadian, b. 1953)
Lambton County, Ontario, Canada.
Two-year-old Isaac Towell is carried into the Sydenham River by his older
sister Naomi to introduce him to water.
1996
Credit: © Larry Towell/Magnum Photos


Larry Towell:The World From My Front Porch
Organized by George Eastman House
International Museum of Photography and Film
September 18 – November 13, 2009
Opening reception, September 18, 6-8pm

Magnum photographer focuses on his home in Canada as well as the issue of
‘landlessness’ – Mennonites and Palestinians plus El Salvador, Mexico, New Orleans

"The McDonough Museum of Art on the campus of Youngstown State University presents Larry Towell: The World from My Front Porch, the Magnum photographer’s largest U.S. exhibition to date. This multi-media retrospective focuses on the impact of social unrest on cultural identity as seen through Towell’s lens as he traveled from Canada to the Middle East, Central America, and the United States. The exhibition of more than 120 black-and-white images will be on view in the McDonough galleries September 18 through November 13, 2009. These photographs will be accompanied by related artifacts such as Mennonite clothing, shell casings from war zones, martyr posters, a water-soaked photo albumfrom a Katrina survivor. Also included are Towell’s essays, musical recordings, and video presentations, some as twenty-five foot projections. The opening reception for the exhibit will take place on Friday, September 18, from 6:00 to 8:00pm.

Larry Towell: The World from My Front Porch will include photographs from Towell’s thirty-year portfolio of activity and involvement in contemporary international issues of land use and control. Included are images of Mennonite migrant workers of Mexico, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, civil war in El Salvador, victims of Hurricane Katrina, and other areas in social crisis where Towell has witnessed the “landless poor.” The exhibition will also feature images from a rare personal reportage of his own family and land in rural Ontario, Canada."

Towell’s photographs and essays have been published extensively, in publications such as LIFE, GEO, Stern, Elle, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. A montage of these clippings will be displayed as part of the exhibition. He is the author of ten books chronicling his travels including his most recent volume, The World from My Front Porch.