“Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually.”
Henri Cartier-Bresson
A brief history of Magnum, when was it formed and why?
The international photography collective known as Magnum Photos was founded in 1947 by several mostly male American and European photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, William and Rita Vandirvert, David Seymour and Robert Capa.
Today, they have offices in many major cities (New York City, London, Tokyo and Paris) and represent world-renowned photographers. These photographers have produced a multitude of iconic images that document famous events and personalities covering all different areas.
How Many Photographers do they represent?
After a rough head count on the website, there seem to be about 100 photographers who are signed to the Magnum Agency.
Approximately how many of them are Women?
Magnum Photos only represent roughly 15 women which is only 15% of their member photographers.
Approximately how many of them are white?
About 85% of the Magnum photographers are white and/or European. Overall there is about as many people with ethnic backgrounds, from for example South Africa, India or Iran, as there are females part of their photographic portfolio of artists.
Magnum Photographer of my choice: SIm CHi Yin
The artist I chose is the Singaporean photographer Sim Chi Yin. I chose this particular artist because she stood out among the other Magnum photographers as she is one of the only female women of colour that Magnum represents and has only been apart of the collective since 2018 when she was awarded its Social Justice and Photography Fellowship.
After doing more research on her, I found out that as fourth generation Chinese, she works mainly as a documentary photographer throughout Asia and her focus primarily lies on migration issues. For example, in 2011 she published a photo-essay book called The Long Road Home: Journey Of Indonesian Migrant Workers.
I love the way that Sim Chi Yin tells stories with her pictures. She delves deep into the history of different Asian cultures and by being based in Beijing also into her own, as her grandfather was a photo-journalist who was killed during the civil war in China.
Her artistic and storytelling genius has even been recognized by the Norwegian Nobel Committee as they commissioned her to be the Nobel Peace Prize photographer in 2017.
Megan's Photoblog 