Larry Towell

Larry Towell (born 1953) is a Canadian photographer, poet, and oral historian. Towell is known for his photographs of sites of political conflict in the Ukraine, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Standing Rock and Afghanistan, among others. In 1988, Towell became the first Canadian member of Magnum Photos.
Life.
Towell was born in Chatham-Kent, Ontario and grew up in a large family in rural Ontario, attending local schools. At college, he studied visual arts at York University in Toronto, where his interest in photography first began. 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, Towell taught folk music and wrote poetry during the 1980s.
Towell lives in rural Lambton County Ontario and sharecrops a 75-acre farm with his wife Ann and their four children.
Photography career.
He became a freelance photographer in 1984. His early work included projects on the Contra war in Nicaragua, the civil war in El Salvador, relatives of the disappeared in Guatemala, and American Vietnam War veterans who worked to rebuild Vietnam. His first magazine essay looked at the ecological damages from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
In 1988, Towell joined the Magnum Photos agency, becoming the first Canadian associated with the group. He has 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.
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 documents the impact of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
From 2008 to 2011, Towell traveled five times to Afghanistan to photograph the social effects of the Afghan civil war.
Between 2013 and 2015, Towell 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.
Towell has published books of photographs, poetry, and oral history. He has also recorded several audio CDs of original poetry and songs.