The Photographers Lecture Series: Peter van Agtmael

Peter van Agtmael is a documentary photographer whose work takes a nuanced look at America’s wars and their complex ramifications both at home and abroad. Following three years as an embedded and independent photojournalist in both Iraq and Afghanistan, van Agtmael released his first monograph, 2 nd Tour Hope I don’t Die (Photolucida, 2009), a difficult and sobering look at two wars that remained largely unseen by most Americans. The work poignantly demonstrates the complexities and confusions of warfare through images that continuously blur the distinction between perpetrator and victim, hero and villain, and similar dualities.

Sure, his unflinching work captures the brutality, chaos, and carnage of war. But van Agtmael's photos also deliver the extreme tedium, the moments of tranquility, the humanity, and the utter confusion— in ways that stir those of us here, safely at home. – Mark Murrmann, Mother Jones

Van Agtmael was recently awarded the W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant in Humanistic Photography and plans to use the award to work on “Disco Night September 11.” This work in progress expands the scope of his project to include the other side of recent American conflicts—the experiences of Afghan and Iraqi civilians as well as refugees in the US, Afghanistan, and throughout the Middle East. Peter van Agtmael was born in Washington DC in 1981 and studied History at Yale University. Upon graduating he was awarded the Charles P. Howland fellowship to photograph the effects of the Three Gorges Dam in China. His work documenting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has garnered numerous awards including the 2011 ICP Infinity Award for Young Photographer and the 2012 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. Van Agtmael is represented by Magnum Photos.