17 Oct 2008

Magnum's insight on America

Author:

Olivier Laurent

With 17 days left before the US presidential elections, Magnum Photos has launched its Insight America project.

The project, which is expected to be the first chapter in a long-running initiative, sees Magnum photographers explore questions such as 'what is the American dream today?' and 'Are some of us really all blue and some all red? Or are we mostly shades of purple?'

magnum.jpg

'Using the Web to update their observations daily, InSight America is a collage of personal investigations and reflections that attempts to capture the things preoccupying Americans during the weeks leading to Election Day,' Magnum says.

This month-long, web-based project has been designed to confront a critical moment in US history, using photographs, audio, video, diaries, blogs, podcasts and statistics, Magnum says.

Insight America is led by Mark Lubell, Magnum Photos' New York bureau chief, and edited by Fred Ritchin, a professor at New York University and the director of PixelPress (www.pixelpress.org). It sees photographers such as Paolo Pellegrin, David Alan Harvey, Alec Soth and Thomas Dworzak travel around the US or Iraq and report on the state of the country.

Magnum's Insight America blog can be found here. And check back later on 1854 for a full interview with the blog's creators.

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