Wendy Sue Lamm Biography

Wendy Sue Lamm (born 1964 in Los Angeles, California) is an American photographer and photojournalist.

Career

Lamm earned her BA in Humanities from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988 and had her first photojournalism experience with the Agence France-Presse, where she stayed until 1997. From 1988 to 1996 she works in the most various places of the United States, from El Paso, Texas to New York City and San Francisco. In 1994 she is member of the team of the Los Angeles Times that reports on the Northridge earthquake, and some pictures shot by Lamm are part of the collection that, a year later, was awarded Pulitzer Prize for the staff of the newspaper.

Between 1996 and 2005, Lamm is posted in Jerusalem, in Paris and in Stockholm. Since 1998 she works for the Italianagency Contrasto. In 1997 she receives the first World Press Photo Prize in the category Spot news for a picture published with the Agence France-Presse. That twin picture represents, face to face, Israeli soldiers and a Palestinian, with a thick line separating them. In 1998 she won third prize in the World Press Photo in the category Art for a picture published with the Contrasto agency.

In 1999, she received, for her photo Holy Water, still published with the Italian agency, the Award of Excellence given by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) during the 56th Annual Pictures of the Year Contest.

In 2005, as the 'Agenzia Contrasto opens a distribution channel in the United States, Lamm returns living and working to her native Los Angeles.

From her husband Esaias she has a boy named Elia.

Work

What earned Wendy Sue Lamm her biggest success is a collection of photographs shot in Israel and the Palestinian Territories which was exhibited in various countries and was compiled in the book From the Land of Miracles, published 2005. The book was translated into Italian and Swedish. It is probably the metaphorical dimension of Lamm's photographs that constitute their main feature. There are pictures in which the care for artistic quality is linked with a human message and a contextualization in current political events, as described in the quotations reproduced below.

The photo that won the first World Press Photo Award was analyzed in the same perspective by Søren Kolstrup:

Thus the photo depicts two subjects, which are placed side by side from a spatial point of view, but are moving in different directions from the point of view of their action.

Commenting an exhibits of the collection From The Land of Miracle held in Italy Giancarlo Pauletto, curator of the Museum of Modern Arts, has exemplified with two pictures the messages contained in Lamm's works, again basing himself on the metaphorical dimension:

Commenting on the book, David Schonauer, from American Photo, wrote:

Exhibits

Solo exhibits (selection)

• 2005: Dalla Terra Dei Miracoli, FORMA, International Center for Photography, Milan, Italy
• 2007: Dalla Terra Dei Miracoli, Dedica Festival, Pordenone, Italy
• 2007: Maroon 5 " It Won't Be Soon Before Long, Virtual exhibit
• 2008: From the Land of Miracles, Dortort Center, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA
• 2008: Between War and Peace - From the Land of Miracles, Hillel's Rubin-Frankel Gallery, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• 2009: From the Land of Miracles, The Perfect Exposure Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
• 2010: A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop a-lop-bam-boo, Six Decades of Rock 'n' Roll, Amerika Haus, Munich, Germany
• 2010: DRAWING THE LINE, Beverly Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Collective exhibits (selection)

• 2000: A Century of Love and War, Asahi Museum, Asahi Japan
• 2001: Maison de la culture Frontenac, Montréal, Canada
• 2001: South Africa National Gallery, South Africa
• 2001: Bild Museet, Umea, Sweden
• 2001: Inferno and Paradiso, cur: Alfredo Jaar, Riksutstallningar
• 2002: Nativité dans les rues de Barr, Strasbourg, France
• 2002: Holy Land, 6th Encuentro internacional de Fotoperiodismo, Ciudad de Gijon, Spain
• 2002: Le Photojournalisme, cur: De Maigret, Hôtel-de-Ville de Paris 16, Paris, France
• 2003: Granser (Boundaries), Riksutstallningar, Stockholm Stadsmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2004: Eurogeneration, Palazzo Reale " Royal Palace of Milan, Milan, Italy
• 2005: Eurogeneration, Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Rome, Italy
• 2005: Best Books of the Year, Scandinavian Book Fair, Gothenborg, Sweden
• 2007: Aesthetics, The Perfect Exposure Gallery, Los Angeles
• 2009: Aesthetics, The Perfect Exposure Gallery, Los Angeles
• 2009: Like Water on Rock: Exhibit by the Jewish Women Artists' Network (30 Jewish women artists), Gotthelf Art Gallery, Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, La Jolla, San Diego, California
• 2009: The Finegood Art Gallery, West Hills, California
• 2009: Like Water on Rock: Exhibit by the Jewish Women Artists' Network, Platt/Borstein Galleries at American Jewish University, Los Angeles, California, USA

Works

Monographies

• From the Land of Miracles, Contrasto 2005
• Dalla Terra Dei Miracoli, Contrasto, Italy 2005
• Fran Undrens Land, Journal, Sweden 2005

Collections

• World Press Photo 1997, World Press Photo Foundation, Netherlands, 1998
• World Press Photo 1998, World Press Photo Foundation, Netherlands, 1999
• Inferno and Paradiso, Alfredo Jaar; BildMuseet, Riksutallningar and ACTAR, Sweden 1999
• Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach, Kenneth Kobre; Focal Press, USA 2000
• Facing the World, Great Moments in Photojournalism, Agence France-Presse; France, USA, Abrams 2001
• Eurogeneration, Contrasto, Italy 2004
• Aesthetics, 4 Stop Press, USA 2007
• It Won't be Soon Before Long, Maroon 5, CD booklet; A&M Records, USA 2007
• Drommen om verkligheten (A Dream of Reality), Marie Lundquist; Journal, Sweden 2007
• Aesthetics, Tango, USA 2009

Awards

• 1995: Pulitzer Prize as a staff member of the Los Angeles Times
• 1997: World Press Photo, 1st prize
• 1997: World Press Photo, 3dr prize
• 1999: Picture of the Year Contest, Award of Excellence