For more than 15 years, Paolo Pellegrin has documented the turbulent and historic times that scarred many nations of the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, through the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ to the present-day battles and rise of ISIS. Pellegrin’s style of coverage, long-form journalism, has enabled him to reveal historical threads that are imperative to understanding the present-day struggles in the Middle East.
As Pellegrin notes, “this is a macroscopic set of ongoing events, and it’s reshaping a large part of the world, not only in terms of refugees or terror, but in every sense–politically, socially, and culturally. For the large part, Iraq and Syria are modern creations of former colonial powers, which created, in an arbitrary way, these places which didn’t really exist naturally because they put together Shiites and Sunnis, and Kurds with Arabs. In a sense, it’s a recipe for what we’re seeing now. The seed was planted a long time ago. What’s interesting is they’re readjusting to what the situation was before the English treaties created modern Iraq, for example; they seem to be re-dividing according to sectarian lines.”
As part of an 18-month assignment for The New York Times Magazine, Pellegrin, along with writer Scott Anderson, embarked on a series of trips to the Middle East to explore how and why the region continued to unravel through 2015 and into the summer of 2016; included are assignments that took them to the Greek islands that provide refuge to a huge stream of migrants from Iraq and Syria, and to the front lines in northern Iraq where the battle to halt the Islamic State was most fierce.
Anderson and Pellegrin’s cumulative work focuses on the conflicts, the power struggles and the devastation that befell the people of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan and led many to flee across borders and some toward European shores.
“Why do I do it? However imperfect the whole media world might be, I still think it’s extremely important that stories are told–and I say this as a maker of images and as a reader. If there are no journalists–if there are no writers, photographers, videographers–who go out there as witnesses, especially doing this long form of journalism, as society, we lose out enormously because you can’t always rely on news cycles. I think for a better, deeper understanding it needs this type of commitment.”
The Magnum Distribution
Harking back to the analogue days of photo distribution, the Magnum Distribution is a full photographic story in an envelope.
Each pack contains eight 8x10” prints, hand-stamped with the Magnum Collection stamp and the photographer’s copyright stamp, and accompanied by a printed page detailing the story and individual captions.
Each pack is numbered from 1 to 100 on its envelope.
Price may increase as the edition sells.
Our contemporary version of the distro plays on the nostalgia of the press print, and makes the work of Magnum photographers available to purchase as an unsigned set of digital C-type prints, exclusively through the Magnum Shop, in a limited edition of 100.
Magnum Distribution sets are produced in New York from where they will ship. No VAT will be charged for international orders, however any order delivered to an address outside of the USA may be subject to customs and import duty.
