In collaboration with FotoFilmic, The Polygon Gallery is pleased to present a talk by esteemed American photojournalist, writer, and filmmaker Danny Lyon. The talk will be followed by a book signing of his publications purchased at the event. An small exhibit of Lyon’s photographs and books will be on display.

Danny Lyon (b. 1942, Brooklyn, NY) is one of the most important American photographers of the last half-century to renew the documentary tradition’s concern with social justice. The power of Lyon’s work is based in his willingness to be immersed as a participant in the cultures and communities he documents. His approach was shaped by his experiences covering the unrest of the 1960s as photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and at Civil Rights events, later published in Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement (Twin Palms, 2010).

Early in his career, Lyon began creating his own photobooks: The Bikeriders (1968), shot while a member of the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle club; The Destruction of Lower Manhattan (1969), which documented the demolition of Lower Manhattan; Conversations with the Dead (1971), a close study of the Texas prison system; and Memories of Myself (2010), an anthology of photo essays.  His novel approach to the photobook involves splicing images with texts drawn from various sources. His films include Los Niños Abandonados, Born to Film, Willie, and Murderers.

Lyon lives in New Mexico and Maine. His photography has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC, the Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany and he has won Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowships. He is represented by Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York and Rome; and Etherton Gallery, Tucson.

This talk is presented in conjunction with the two-day seminar “Bulletin Boards: Prints Into Books & Film” with Danny Lyon, organised by FotoFilmic. Established in 2012 and based on Bowen Island, BC, FotoFilmic is an arts organisation dedicated to supporting emerging photographic artists through exhibitions, publications, as well as seminars, public talks and master workshops.

Image: Danny Lyon, Crossing the Ohio near Louisville, from The Bikeriders, 1966