Jane Evelyn
Atwood

Jane Evelyn Atwood

biography

© Denis Dailleux

Jane Evelyn Atwood was born in New York and has lived in France since 1971.

 Fascinated by people and the notion of exclusion, she has managed to penetrate worlds that most of us ignore or choose to ignore. In 1976, she bought her first camera and began photographing prostitutes on the rue des Lombards in Paris. This work, which will last a year, will become her first book. In 1980, she is commissioned by the first W prize. Eugene Smith to produce a subject on blind children.

In the years that followed, she became involved in several long-term photographic projects.

In 1983, she produced a report on the Foreign Legion and followed soldiers in Lebanon, Beirut and Chad for eighteen months. In 1987, she photographed Jean-Louis, whom she followed for four months before his death. Jean-Louis was the first person with AIDS in Europe who agreed to have his story published in the press. Despite the thousands of deaths caused by this disease, AIDS had previously no face. In 1989, she embarked on a vast project on women incarcerated in several countries around the world. She managed to gain access to the most difficult penitentiary institutions, including death row in the United States. This monumental work, which remains a reference, lasts ten years and reveals the conditions of women in forty prisons in nine Eastern European countries and the United States.

It was internationally exhibited and published in the book Trop de Peines ,Femmes en Prison (Albin Michel, Paris). For four years starting in 2000, she documented landmine victims in Cambodia, Angola, Kosovo, Mozambique and Afghanistan. She then spent three years in Haiti, where she took photographs of daily life, a color approach of “Street photography”, breaking with her usual practice.

Jane Evelyn Atwood is the author of thirteen books, including a monograph in the prestigious Photo Poche collection (Actes Sud, 2010). Her images are exhibited internationally (her first retrospective was presented at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2011) and appear in numerous public and private collections. She has been awarded the most prestigious prizes, including the first grant from the W. Eugene Smith Foundation (New York, 1980), the SCAM Portfolio Award (Paris, 1990), the Oskar Barnack Prize from Leica Caméra (1997), the Alfred Eisenstadt Prize in 1998, and, in 2018, the Grand Prix Photo Planète Albert Kahn (Paris) and a Lucie Award (New York).

In France she is represented by the gallery IN CAMERA and in the United States by L. Parker Stephenson.

Series

Haïti, 2008

The work of the American photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood on Haiti is radically at odds with the imagery of violence and misery that current events regularly impose to evoke this Caribbean country.

Malawi, Hunger and Aids, 2004

Through this series in Malawi, Jane Evelyn Atwood shows the consequences of hunger on families and populations.

Landmines, 2003

Every year between 15,000 and 20,000 people are killed and mutilated by landmines, most of them are civilians and many of them are children. The mines are deliberately manufactured to maim their victims.

Poverty, 1995

If the “Rue des Lombards” was her "school of photography", Jane Evelyne Atwood continues to work on the street. Fascinated by people and by exclusion, she has photographed the homeless of the capital, always with deep respect for others and with empathy.

Women In Prison, 1990

This monumental work on female incarceration, took Atwood to forty prisons in nine different countries in Europe, Eastern Europe, and the United States.

The Blind, 1988

Over a period of ten years, Jane Evelyn Atwood entered the blind schools of France, Australia, Israel, Japan and the United States. The photographer, fascinated by the visual, has a passion for young blind people who can’t see.

Rue des Lombards, 1977

Rue des Lombards is Jane Evelyn Atwood's first photographic reportage, produced in black and white, in a writing that is at once simple, effective and sensitive.

Haïti, 2008

The work of the American photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood on Haiti is radically at odds with the imagery of violence and misery that current events regularly impose to evoke this Caribbean country.

Malawi, Hunger and Aids, 2004

Through this series in Malawi, Jane Evelyn Atwood shows the consequences of hunger on families and populations.

Landmines, 2003

Every year between 15,000 and 20,000 people are killed and mutilated by landmines, most of them are civilians and many of them are children. The mines are deliberately manufactured to maim their victims.

Poverty, 1995

If the “Rue des Lombards” was her "school of photography", Jane Evelyne Atwood continues to work on the street. Fascinated by people and by exclusion, she has photographed the homeless of the capital, always with deep respect for others and with empathy.

Women In Prison, 1990

This monumental work on female incarceration, took Atwood to forty prisons in nine different countries in Europe, Eastern Europe, and the United States.

The Blind, 1988

Over a period of ten years, Jane Evelyn Atwood entered the blind schools of France, Australia, Israel, Japan and the United States. The photographer, fascinated by the visual, has a passion for young blind people who can’t see.

Rue des Lombards, 1977

Rue des Lombards is Jane Evelyn Atwood's first photographic reportage, produced in black and white, in a writing that is at once simple, effective and sensitive.

Haïti, 2008

The work of the American photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood on Haiti is radically at odds with the imagery of violence and misery that current events regularly impose to evoke this Caribbean country.

Malawi, Hunger and Aids, 2004

Through this series in Malawi, Jane Evelyn Atwood shows the consequences of hunger on families and populations.

Landmines, 2003

Every year between 15,000 and 20,000 people are killed and mutilated by landmines, most of them are civilians and many of them are children. The mines are deliberately manufactured to maim their victims.

Poverty, 1995

If the “Rue des Lombards” was her "school of photography", Jane Evelyne Atwood continues to work on the street. Fascinated by people and by exclusion, she has photographed the homeless of the capital, always with deep respect for others and with empathy.

Women In Prison, 1990

This monumental work on female incarceration, took Atwood to forty prisons in nine different countries in Europe, Eastern Europe, and the United States.

The Blind, 1988

Over a period of ten years, Jane Evelyn Atwood entered the blind schools of France, Australia, Israel, Japan and the United States. The photographer, fascinated by the visual, has a passion for young blind people who can’t see.

Rue des Lombards, 1977

Rue des Lombards is Jane Evelyn Atwood's first photographic reportage, produced in black and white, in a writing that is at once simple, effective and sensitive.

Interviews

Jane Evelyn Atwood, l’oeil des oubliés
Richard Bonnet
—
Interview by Richard Bonnet, 2020

“The American photographer, who has been living in France since the early 1970s, is known for her long-term investigations of difficult social issues. You won’t be able to visit this exhibition at the Filature de Mulhouse, closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. But we were able to see it in the presence of the photographer, and we’ll take you there!”

Regardez voir
France Inter
—
Interview by Brigitte Patient, 2019

Jane Evelyn Atwood is the godmother of the “Femmes s’exposent” in Houlgate, where she is exhibiting a work never before seen in France. This is an opportunity to revisit a work that is meant to be humanistic, from her beginnings on rue des Lombards in the company of a prostitute called Blondine, to the corridors of death that she has been able to walk down with her box.

Listen

Les Masterclasses
France Culture
—
Interview by Arnaud Laporte, 2018

The Franco-American photographer talks about her career as an image hunter, from her discovery of photography through the work of Diane Arbus to her series on women in prison.

Listen

La nuit rêvée (3/3)
France Inter
—
Interview by Philippe Garbit, 2017

Last interview of Jane Evelyn Atwood’s “Dream Night” with Albane Penaranda.

Listen

La nuit rêvée (2/3)
France Inter
—
Interview by Philippe Garbit, 2017

Second interview of Jane Evelyn Atwood’s “Dream Night” with Albane Penaranda. Presenting the archives she has chosen, the photographer talks about her work as a photographer, and about personalities who have marked her, who we will also hear this night like Daniel Defert or Ryszard Kapuscinski.

Listen

La nuit rêvée (1/2)
France Inter
—
Interview réalisée par Philippe Garbit, 2017

First interview of Jane Evelyn Atwood’s “Dream Night” with Albane Penaranda. Presenting the archives she has chosen, the photographer evokes James Baldwin, Diane Arbus, Lisette Model…

Listen

Regardez voir
France Inter
—
Interview by Brigitte Patient, 2015

The “Regarder Voir” chronicle looks back at the entire photographic work of Jane Evelyn Atwood.

Listen

Ouvert la nuit
France Inter
—
2011

On the occasion of a retrospective at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in 2011, the chronicle “Ouvert la nuit” looks back at the beginnings of Jane Evelyn Atwood and her work “Rue des Lombards”.

Listen

L’humeur vagabonde
France Inter
—
2011

On the occasion of a retrospective at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in 2011, the chronicle “l’humeur vagabonde” looks back at the beginnings of Jane Evelyn Atwood and her work “Rue des Lombards”.

Listen

Exhibitions

Sept histoires 1976 – 2010
—
Festival de photo MAP, Toulouse (FRANCE)
—
From June 3 to September 25, 2022

More information

Photographies 1976-2010
—
La Filature, scène nationale, Mulhouse (FRANCE)
—
From March 3 to April 8, 2020

More information

Jane Evelyn Atwood et Joan Colom
—
Espace croisière, Arles (FRANCE)
—
From July 2 to September 23, 2018

More information

Rétrospective
—
Le Botanique, Bruxelles (BELGIUM)
—
From November 22, 2013 to January 12, 2014

More information

books

Horses

Atelier EXB - 2024

Pigalle People 1978-1979

Le Bec en l’Air - 2018

Jane Evelyn Atwood

André Frère Éditions - 2015

Rue des Lombards

Actes Sud - 2008

Jane Evelyn Atwood - Photopoche n°125

Photopoche / Actes Sud - 2010

Haïti

Actes Sud - 2008

À contre coups

Éditions Xavier Barral - 2007

L’enfer-me-ment

Husson - 2006

Misère urbaine : La faim cachée

Au diable Vauvert - 2006

Regards sur le monde : Les visages de la faim

Acropole Belfond - 2004

Sentinelles de l’ombre

Les éditions du Seuil - 2004

Trop de peines : Femmes en prison

Albin Michel - 2000

Extérieur nuit

Photopoche / Delpire - 1998

Horses

Atelier EXB - 2024

Pigalle People 1978-1979

Le Bec en l’Air - 2018

Jane Evelyn Atwood

André Frère Éditions - 2015

Rue des Lombards

Actes Sud - 2008

Jane Evelyn Atwood - Photopoche n°125

Photopoche / Actes Sud - 2010

Haïti

Actes Sud - 2008

À contre coups

Éditions Xavier Barral - 2007

L’enfer-me-ment

Husson - 2006

Misère urbaine : La faim cachée

Au diable Vauvert - 2006

Regards sur le monde : Les visages de la faim

Acropole Belfond - 2004

Sentinelles de l’ombre

Les éditions du Seuil - 2004

Trop de peines : Femmes en prison

Albin Michel - 2000

Extérieur nuit

Photopoche / Delpire - 1998

Horses

Atelier EXB - 2024

Pigalle People 1978-1979

Le Bec en l’Air - 2018

Jane Evelyn Atwood

André Frère Éditions - 2015

Rue des Lombards

Actes Sud - 2008

Jane Evelyn Atwood - Photopoche n°125

Photopoche / Actes Sud - 2010

Haïti

Actes Sud - 2008

À contre coups

Éditions Xavier Barral - 2007

L’enfer-me-ment

Husson - 2006

Misère urbaine : La faim cachée

Au diable Vauvert - 2006

Regards sur le monde : Les visages de la faim

Acropole Belfond - 2004

Sentinelles de l’ombre

Les éditions du Seuil - 2004

Trop de peines : Femmes en prison

Albin Michel - 2000

Extérieur nuit

Photopoche / Delpire - 1998

awards

Lucie Award for Documentary Photography

2018

Planet Albert Kahn Photo Grand Prix (France)

2018

Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters from Bard College (USA)

2005

Award : Radio France Info (France)

For her series: “too many sentences, women in prison”

2000

Alfred Eisenstaedt Award, Columbia University / LIFE Magazine (USA)

For her series: “too many sentences, women in prison”

1998

Leica Oskar Barnack Award (Germany)

For her series: “too many sentences, women in prison”

1997

Marc Flament Prize, Ministry of Defense (France)

Pour her series : “My heroes, The fireman”

1996

The Roger Pic Prize (anciently the Portfolio SCAM Prize) (France)

Pour sa série : “The Jails”

1996

Paris-Match Photojournalism Prize (France)

For her project : “A Women’s Prison in the USSR”

1990

Price W. Eugene-Smith (USA)

For her project on blind children

1980