CONTACT 30: THE ART OF PHOTOJOURNALISM

The Art of Photojournalism is a major exhibition celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the renowned international agency Contact Press Images (1976-2006), with thirty contact sheets enlarged to 1m50 x 2m, and thirty photographers: Patrick Artinian, Kristen Ashburn, Jane Evelyn Atwood, Alexandra Avakian, Nadia Benchallal, David Burnett, Nick Danziger, Stephen Dupont, Giorgia Fiorio, Chuck Fishman, Matt Franjola, Frank Fournier, Gianfranco Gorgoni, Lori Grinker, Justin Guariglia, Hale Gurland, Afrim Hajrullahu, Sean Hemmerle, James Hill, Kenneth Jarecke, Edward Keating, Yunghi Kim, Annie Leibovitz, Li Zhensheng, Don McCullin, Dilip Mehta, Tomas Muscionico, Charles Ommanney, Olivier Rebbot, Alon Reininger.

Curated by Robert Pledge - president of the agency who was a co-founder along with photographer David Burnett - this exhibition examines the last three decades through the contact sheet - a fast-disappearing artifact in the digital era - and illustrates the art of photojournalism through thirty images selected from the displayed contact sheets.

Each contact sheet is introduced by a short text written by journalist and editor Jacques Menasche, and each image by a detailed caption along with biographies of the photographers and a brief chronology of the agency's history.

Founded in 1976, nine months after the end of the war in Vietnam, Contact has since documented the era that saw the end of Apartheid, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dismantling of the Soviet Empire, revolution in Central America, the opening of China, genocide in Africa, ethnic tension in the Balkans, the birth of the internet, and the War on Terror.

Curated by Robert Pledge