Happy Birthday, Jane Evelyn Atwood!

With her long-term projects and powerful picture series, Jane Evelyn Atwood has, for many decades now, been among the most notable and internationally successful women photographers of our time. Born in New York, her life has been centred around Paris since the early seventies. With her choice of subjects, the photographer repeatedly pushes boundaries and directs her gaze towards people who are overlooked or relegated to the margins of society. Giving visual evidence of social and political injustices, lack of respect, and insufficient knowledge about social problems, are important motivators for her work. Already her first series, about street prostitution in Paris, caused a sensation and earned her international recognition. This was followed by numerous long-term projects, including series on the Foreign Legion, AIDS and victims of landmines.

Atwood works almost exclusively in black and white; she only uses colour in rare cases, such as for her series about Haiti. One of her most intense projects, time-wise, geographically, and emotionally, is the series dealing with the appalling conditions of women in prison. The photographer had access to some of the worst detention facilities in the world. Over a period of ten years, she visited forty prisons in nine European countries and in the USA. The series earned her the 1997 Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Her book, Too much time, Women in Prison was published in 2000.

In addition to appearing in many magazines, Atwood's work has also been exhibited regularly and featured in numerous books. Her most recent photo book, Darya, published by Le bec en l'air, deals with the life of a Ukrainian caregiver in Italy.

Jane Evelyn Atwood is closely linked to Leica: she has been working with Leica M cameras for many decades, with a preference for the Leica M7. This year she presented her experiences with the Leica M11 on the Leica blog.