PHOTO:Danny Lyon- Message To The Future
Danny Lyon is one of the most important American photographers of the last half century to renew the documentary tradition’s concern with social justice. Self-taught, and driven by his twin passions for social change and the medium of photography, the power of Lyon’s work has often derived from his willingness of immerse himself entirely in the cultures and communities he documents.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Fotomuseum Winterthur Archive
The exhibition “Message to the Future”, presents a comprehensive retrospective view of Danny Lyon, presenting 150 photographs alongside films and ephemera, including many objects that are shown for the first time. As a dedicated and sharp-eyed observer fascinated by outsiders and subcultures, Lyon has spent more than 50 years documenting sociopolitical issues, delving deep into the heart of the matter and always building a close rapport with the people in front of his camera. Determined to counter the one-sided preoccupations of the mainstream media by offering an alternative viewpoint, he has developed an increasingly subjective and participatory form of documentary photography in the tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank. In addition to his images, this wide-ranging retrospective exhibition also includes, for the first time in Europe, some of his lesser-known films, collages and fascinating material from Lyon’s own archives. Lyon’s earliest photographs were created against the backdrop of the US Civil Rights Movement. In 1962 he hitch-hiked to Illinois where he photographed his first demonstration. Having been appointed official photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee he went on to produce iconic images documenting the violent clashes between demonstrators and police in the southern states. His photographs capturing the Occupy demonstrations in the autumn of 2011 in New York, Los Angeles, Oakland and Albuquerque, recall his pictures of the early days of his career. Influenced by the Beat Generation and by his father’s photo albums, Danny Lyon became interested from an early age in socially marginalised groups. In 1965, he joined the Chicago Outlaws, one of the world’s biggest and oldest motorcycling gangs, and in the course of the following years he documented their life on the road and beyond. During his time in Lower Manhattan (1967) he photographed the demolition of the area where the World Trade Center would later be built. For another project, he spent 14 months visiting inmates in Texas prisons to document their everyday lives up close. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, his self-described “Advocacy journalism” took him to Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia and Haiti, where he documented the lives of illegal workers, street children, and the revolution overthrowing the dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier. In the late ‘60s, Lyon shot his first short films “Ramsey Cell Block” and “Ellis Shakedown” (both 1968), and started to develop a strong interest for moving images. “Soc. Sci. 127” (1969) is his first elaborate 21-minute film portrait of tattoo artist Bill Sanders. In the following years, he went on to create longer cinematic works such as “Los Niños Abandonados” (1975) and “Willie” (1968). Being self-taught, Lyon films just the way he photographs: up close, direct and candid. The approach he takes in his films expresses empathy for those on the margins of society.
Fotomuseum Winterthur, Grüzenstrasse 44 + 45m Winterthur, Duration: 20/5-27/8/17, Days & Hours: Tue & Thu-Sun 11:00-18:00, Wde 11:00-20:00, www.fotomuseum.ch
