Behind the Lens—ICP Spotlights Honoree Lynsey Addario Shares Images and Stories with the ICP Community

This year, we are proud to recognize Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer and New York Times best-selling author Lynsey Addario at ICP Spotlights, our annual benefit luncheon honoring women in visual arts working in photography and film. Addario’s work focuses on humanitarian and human rights issues across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa with a specific focus on women’s issues.

In anticipation of ICP Spotlights, we are delighted that Addario was able to share images and stories from some of her most significant works on ICP’s Instagram feed. Her captivating photos and poignant accompanying text can be found below.

ICP Spotlights, to be held November 7, will feature an informative and inspiring conversation between Addario and award-winning journalist Katie Couric. Tickets are available for purchase online. For more information, contact 212.219.0111, ext 7008 or [email protected].

 

Hello everyone! This is @LynseyAddario. I’m honored to be this year’s #ICPSpotlights honoree. To celebrate, I’ll be sharing some of my work on the ICP @Instagram throughout the week. I saw two women on the side of the mountain, in burkas—they were without a man. In Afghanistan, you almost never see an unaccompanied woman, especially in the countryside. I asked our driver to stop and had my interpreter ask what they were doing. It turned out Noor Nisa, who was about 18, was pregnant, and her water had just broken. Her husband’s first wife had died during childbirth, so he was determined to get Noor Nisa to the hospital, a four-hour journey from their village in the remote Badakhshan Province. He borrowed a car, but it broke down, so he went to find another vehicle. I ended up taking Noor Nisa, her mother, and her husband to the hospital in Faizabad, where she delivered a baby girl. I was on a mission to photograph maternal health and mortality issues, only to find the entire story waiting for me along a dusty Afghan road.

A post shared by Int'l Center of Photography (@icp) on Sep 25, 2017 at 11:33am PDT

 

This week, #ICPSpotlights honoree @LynseyAddario is sharing images here on our @Instagram. “I spent roughly two months embedded with the 173rd Airborne, Battle Company, in the Korengal Valley in the autumn of 2007 while on assignment for The @NYTmag with Elizabeth Rubin. At that time, it was arguably one of the most volatile places in Afghanistan, where the troops were engaging in almost daily combat around the valley. At the end of the embed, we accompanied the troops on ‘Operation Rock Avalanche,’ a battalion-wide operation, where we were airlifted directly into the heart of the insurgency, with the goal of finding weapons caches, and drawing the Taliban out into the open. For six days, we walked with all our gear through the mountains at 7,000 feet, essentially waiting to engage the Taliban. And on the sixth day, the scout team, which was manning the ridgeline, was ambushed at close range. Three soldiers were shot, and Staff Sgt. Larry Rougle was killed. October 23, 2007.”

A post shared by Int'l Center of Photography (@icp) on Sep 26, 2017 at 12:06pm PDT

 

From #ICPSpotlights honoree @LynseyAddario: “Chuol, 9, from southern Unity State or outside Leer, fishes for Talapia to help feed his family in the swamps around Nyal, South Sudan, September 10, 2015. Thousands of displaced were taking shelter on the small islands around the swamps after fleeing relentless fighting in Unity State. Chuol along with his grandmother and sister fled from their village several months prior, due to an attack by government forces. They were making their way toward Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya in search of safety. Chuol’s father and grandfather were burned alive in the attack on his village, and his mother stayed behind to tend to his other siblings.”

A post shared by Int'l Center of Photography (@icp) on Sep 27, 2017 at 12:01pm PDT

 

An image from @LynseyAddario—this year’s #ICPSpotlights honoree. “Iman Zenglo, 30, sits with her five children in their tent she and her husband set up roughly three months prior in squalid conditions in a squatters camp outside of the Killis camp on the Turkish side of the Turkish-Syrian border, October 22, 2013. Many Syrian refugees cross back and forth from Syria into bordering countries to work as laborers and visit family across borders. Syrian refugees now total over 6,000,000 in countries neighboring Syria as the civil war rages for the sixth year.” (Credit: Lynsey Addario for The @NYTimes)

A post shared by Int'l Center of Photography (@icp) on Sep 28, 2017 at 12:00pm PDT

 

From #ICPSpotlights honoree @LynseyAddario: “An Iraqi woman walks through a plume of smoke rising from a large fire at a liquid gas factory. She was searching for her husband who was in the vicinity of the fire in Basra, Iraq on May 26, 2003. Allegedly, the fire was started by looters who were picking through the factory. Weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein, looting was one of the main problems for large cities across Iraq. I remember calling out to this woman, and warning her of potential secondary explosions as she walked toward the fire. I asked where she was going, and she responded that her husband worked in the factory—she was going to make sure he was alright.”

A post shared by Int'l Center of Photography (@icp) on Sep 29, 2017 at 1:10pm PDT