Larry Towell (born 1953) is a Canadian photographer, poet, and oral historian. Towell is known for his photographs of sites of political conflict in Ukraine, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Standing Rock and Afghanistan, among others. In 1988, Towell became the only Canadian member of Magnum Photos.

Early life and education Towell was born in 1953, in Wallaceburg, Ontario (now part of the incorporated Chatham-Kent, Ontario) and grew up in a large family in rural Ontario, attending local schools. He studied visual arts at York University in Toronto, where his interest in photography first began. One of his teachers at York University was Tim Whiten, the acclaimed contemporary artist.

Life and work In 1976, Towell volunteered to work in Calcutta, India, where he became interested in questions about the distribution of wealth and issues of land and landlessness. Returning to Canada, he taught folk music and wrote poetry during the 1980s.

Towell became a freelance photographer in 1984. Towell's photographic projects are often long-form investigative pieces; this format allows him to connect with the subjects he depicts. His early work included a project on the Contra war in Nicaragua, in which he met civilians who the United States-backed Contras had persecuted, including landmine victims. He also photographed the civil war in El Salvador, American Vietnam War veterans who worked to rebuild Vietnam, and relatives of the "disappeared" in Guatemala - those presumed murdered by Guatemalan security forces. His book House on Ninth Street is a collection of his photos taken in Guatemala during this time.

In 1988, Towell joined the Magnum Photos agency, becoming the only Canadian associated with the group. His first magazine essay looked at the ecological damages from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He has since had picture essays published in The New York Times, Life, Rolling Stone, and other magazines. His work has included documentation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Mennonite migrant workers in Mexico, and a personal project on his family's farm in southern Ontario.

From 2008 to 2011, Towell traveled five times to Afghanistan to photograph the social effects of the Afghan civil war. Between 2013 and 2015, he photographed the above and underground construction work in Toronto's Union Station. In 2015, his photo Isaac's first swim was published by Canada Post as a stamp. In 2016, Towell photographed the Standing Rock protest in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

He works in both film and digital photography formats. He has said "Black and white is still the poetic form of photography. Digital is for the moment; black and white is an investment of time and love." He has also worked with panoramic cameras to document the impact of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

Towell has published books of photographs, poetry, and oral history. He has also recorded several audio CDs of original poetry and songs.

Personal life Towell lives in rural Lambton County, and sharecrops a 75-acre farm with his wife Ann and their four children.

Publications Burning Cadillacs (1983) Gifts of War (1988) Somoza's Last Stand (1990) The Prison Poems of Ho Chi Minh (1992) House on Ninth Street (1994) El Salvador (1997) Then Palestine (1999) The Mennonites (2000) Second edition. London: Gost, 2022. . Re-edited, re-sequenced and with 40 new images. No Man's Land (2005) In the Wake of Katrina (2006) The World From My Front Porch (2008)

Ruins: Afghanistan (2009)

Films Indecisive Moments: Video Diary of a Still Photographer (2007) – 40 minute video diary made in the Israeli-occupied territories. The Man I Left Behind (2024) - documentary film co-directed with Hubert Hayaud and Matthieu RytzPaul Morden, "Documentary by Lambton County photographer Larry Towell earns awards". Sarnia Observer, March 12, 2025.

Awards 1991: Silver Medal, Canadian National Awards 1991: Grant of $2500 from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund to make work about the Nahuas in El Salvador 1991/93: Gold Medal, Western Canada Magazine Awards 1993: 1st Prize, Daily Life Stories category, World Press Photo 1994: Winner, World Press Photo of the Year and General News Stories category 1994: 1st Prize, World Press Photo, Daily Life Stories category 1994: Picture of the Year, Canon Photo Essay Award 1994/95: Gold Medal, Canadian National Awards 1995: Photographers' work grant, The Ernst Haas Awards, Maine Photographic Workshops 1996: El Mundo Award 1996: Oskar Barnack Award 1997: Golden Light (Best Monograph Award) 1998: Society of Publication Designers, Merit Award, The New York Times Magazine 1998: Society of Publication Designers, Magazine of the Year, The New York Times 1998: Overseas Press Club, New York, Citation of Excellence 1998: Pictorial Prize, Pictures of the Year Foundation, University of Missouri 1998: 1st Prize, Portraiture Essay category, Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism 1999: Picture Of the Year (Best Use of Photography in Books) 1999: Roloff Beny Book Award 1999: Grant from the Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg, Sweden 2000: Society for News Design Award, La Nacion 2003: Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation Award 2005: Prix Nadar, for the book No Man's Land 2007: Finalist, Alicia Patterson Award, USA 2007: Achievement In Filmmaking Award, New York International Independent Film and Video Festival 2009: Shortlisted, And/or Photography Book Award, Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, UK for The World From My Front Porch 2011: The Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award, Ontario Arts Foundation 2023: Inducted into the Chatham-Kent Cultural Hall of Fame for his contributions to the visual arts as a photographer and photojournalist

Exhibitions 1991: Le Mois de la Photo - Maison de la Culture Plateau, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 1994: Carnets de Voyage - Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1994: Retrospective - Nieuwekerk, the Netherlands 1997: Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain 1997: Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen, Netherlands 2001: Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 2001: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, UK 2005: No Man's Land - Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris 2006: FOAM, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2008: George Eastman House, Rochester, New York 2012: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2025: "The Museum Collection" solo exhibition at Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

References

External links Towell's page at Magnum Photos Focus on Lune Froide : Larry Towell "Larry Towell" in Photography in Canada, 1839-1989: An Illustrated History by Sarah Parsons and Sarah Bassnett, published by the Art Canada Institute