Gilles Peress

Distinguished Visiting Professor of Human Rights and Photography

Primary Academic Program: Human Rights

Academic Program Affiliation(s): Photography

Biography: Gilles Peress started using photography to create museum installations and books in 1971, having previously studied political science and philosophy in Paris. His ongoing project, Hate Thy Brother, looks at similitude and difference and its consequences in ethnic conflicts. Peress’s books include Telex Iran; The Silence: Rwanda; Farewell to Bosnia; The Graves: Srebrenica and Vukovar; A Village Destroyed; and Haines. Peress’s work has been exhibited in and collected by institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York; Getty Museum in Los Angeles; V&A in London; Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; and Museum Folkwang, Essen; among others. Peress is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants, Pollock-Krasner and New York State Council of the Arts fellowships, W. Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography, and International Center of Photography Infinity Award. Peress joined Magnum Photos in 1971 and has served three times as vice president and twice as president of the cooperative.

Studies at Institut d’Etudes Politiques and Université de Vincennes, France. At Bard since 2008.

Phone: 845-758-6822
Email:
Department: Arts