Biography

Peter van Agtmael is known for his deeply affecting, sometimes surreal images, which explore themes of conflict, history, memory, nationalism, militarism, race and class. He has spent more than ten years covering America’s wars from both sides and countless angles, from embedding with military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to covering the civilian cost of the wars.  He has also extensively documented the Israel/Palestine conflict.
 
Van Agtmael was born in Washington DC in 1981. He was aged 20 and studying history at Yale when during 9/11; an event that would be pivotal in shaping his career. Shortly after graduating, he began documenting America’s conflicts, which continue to be the anchor of his work.
 
Outside of conflict and its aftermath, Van Agtmael has documented many issues of social justice in America. He photographed the Detroit family of Shelley ‘Treasure’ Hilliard, who was murdered by a drug dealer after acting as a police informant following an arrest for marijuana possession in 2012 and 2013; mining country in Illinois, West Virginia and Pennsylvania; and in 2015, the secretive world of the modern Ku Klux Klan, amongst dozens of other stories. Van Agtmael has also made impactful work in Haiti following the earthquake, AIDS in South Africa, the revolution in Egypt and in the borderlands of Uganda.
 
Along with his ongoing personal projects, Van Agtmael has photographed for many leading publications including The New York Times Magazine, where he has had multiple front covers. Commercial clients include [to be completed by commercial team].  His work is held at  International Center of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Deutsche Börse, Photography Foundation and Yale University Art Gallery.
 
Van Agtmael has published two major monographs;  Disco Night Sept 11 (2014), documenting America at war in the post-9/11 era, (shortlisted for the Aperture/Paris Photo Book Award and was named a ‘Book of the Year’ by The New York Times Magazine, Time Magazine, Mother Jones, Vogue, American Photo and Photo Eye) and Buzzing at the Sill (2017), which explores the margins of contemporary America and was shortlisted for the 2017 Rencontres D’Arles Book Award. It was also named a “Book of the Year” by Time, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Mother Jones, Internazionale and LensCulture. Van Agtmael is a founder and partner in Red Hook Editions and a mentor in the Arab Documentary Photography Program in Beirut. He is also the editor of the first edition of "Magnum Chronicles," A Brief Visual History in the Time of ISIS."
 
He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the W. Eugene Smith Grant, the ICP Infinity Award for Young Photographer, the Lumix Freelens Award, the Aaron Siskind Grant, a Magnum Foundation Grant as well as awards from World Press Photo, American Photography Annual, POYi, The Pulitzer Center, The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, FOAM and Photo District News.
 
Van Agtmael joined Magnum Photos in 2008 and became a full member in 2013.

Favorite pictures