Sean Rocha

Sahrawi refugees photographed by Andrew McConnell

Reading the New Yorker’s Photo Booth blog, I saw a slideshow of work by Irish photographer Andrew McConnell about Sahrawi refugees from the former Spanish Sahara, which is now controlled by Morocco.  The subject was of interest but the slideshow was small and the images mostly dark so I nearly skipped over them; instead, I went to McConnell’s own site, where the images are a bit larger and their effect many, many times greater.  Incredible, luminous figures stand out against landscapes of perpetual night, in what McConnell — who won first prize in the 2011 World Press Photo Awards for this story — explains was an attempt “to give a sense that this is one long night for the Sahrawi—lasting 35 years.”  Check his site, then go see his exhibit (until 7 June 2011) at the Half King Gallery, 505 W. 23rd St.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 12th, 2011 at 12:24 pm. It is filed under That is Genius and tagged with Algeria, Andrew McConnell, Half King, Morocco, North Africa, photography, politics, Sahrawi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.