Larry Towell

For 30 years, Afghanistan has known only war. In this volume, renowned Magnum photographer Larry Towell presents a moving and in-depth look at the country, whose citizens and landscapes are affected by conflict on a daily basis. Towell, a veteran conflict reporter, has worked in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mexico, Palestine and Israel, as well as Afghanistan. This work, shot between 2008 and 2011, offers a tour de force examination of survival, exile, loss and recuperation. Towell shows the war from a variety of perspectives--from military camps to domestic interiors--and offers depictions of US and British soldiers, landmine victims, ordinary Afghan citizens, cityscapes and weaponry, as well as a rare series of Taliban portraits. This volume presents a facsimile of the photographer’s original artist maquette, complete with his handwritten notes and stories and over 350 images, including collages. A true art object, this book conveys the complexity of the conflict, which has roots that go deep into historical and tribal grievances. Beautifully produced in a limited edition, this extraordinary object offers an important historical document on present-day Afghanistan seen through its social, political and environmental landscapes.

With extensive biographical text and images, The World From My Front Porch is a book about Larry Towell's home, its history and the world seen from its viewpoint. It is both a rage against injustice and the romantic expression of an ideal worth fighting for. Central is Towell's photo-essay about the Arcadian family life of the farm that he sharecrops in Ontario, photographed over a period of 20 years. The book also features the personal story of Towell's family and farm, illustrated with archival photographs and historical artifacts, and, in the last section, the story of Towell's journeys beyond his front porch--as photographer, poet and storyteller--into the lives and struggles of people dispossessed by conflict. This section is illustrated with songs, testimonies, tear sheets and artifacts collected from war zones.