Jacob Holdt
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| - | '''Jacob Holdt''' (born 1947 in [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]) is a Danish photographer, writer and lecturer. | + | '''Jacob Holdt''' (born 1947 in [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]) is a [[Danish photographer]], writer and lecturer, best-known for ''[[American Pictures]]''. |
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| - | Passing through the [[United States]] in the 1970s with $40 in his pocket, Jacob Holdt was shocked and fascinated by the social differences he encountered. He ended up staying in the USA more than five years, criss-crossing the country by hitchhiking more than 150,000 miles and recording his impressions on film. | + | |
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| - | He sold [[blood plasma]] twice a week to buy film. He stayed in more than 400 homes - from the poorest migrant workers to America's wealthiest families (for instance, the Rockefellers) - recording these encounters over 3000 photographs taken with a cheap camera. His work captures the daily struggle of the American underclass and contrasts it with images of the life of America's elite. Upon returning to Denmark in 1977, Holdt began lecturing on social differences in the United States and published a book: ''[[American Pictures]]'' ISBN 87-981702-0-1, which is available on Holdt's [http://www.american-pictures.com website]. He later presented his slideshow at over 300 college campuses across the United States. | + | |
| Since 1991, Holdt has worked as a volunteer for [[Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere|CARE]] in several third-world countries. He has continued to document the lives of those in poverty while working for CARE. | Since 1991, Holdt has worked as a volunteer for [[Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere|CARE]] in several third-world countries. He has continued to document the lives of those in poverty while working for CARE. | ||
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Jacob Holdt (born 1947 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish photographer, writer and lecturer, best-known for American Pictures.
Since 1991, Holdt has worked as a volunteer for CARE in several third-world countries. He has continued to document the lives of those in poverty while working for CARE.
His most recent projects have also focused on white supremacist hate groups. Holdt spent time living with leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and photographing their daily lives. Holdt is sympathetic with the people he encountered in these groups, pointing out that most grew up under marginal circumstances and often were victims of child abuse. Holdt emphasizes the similarities in background between white supremacists and poor minorities.
Holdt's ability to capture representations of the "filthy rich" and poverty in America resulted in him being nominated as one of the four shortlisted photographers for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2008. At the exhibition at The Photographer's Gallery in London Holdt presented his photographs for the prize in an effective and mesmerizing slideshow - each image beamed onto a plain white wall in a darkened room, immersing the audience in the dark and dreary world of poverty and maximizing the impact.
Holdt lost out on the prize to the photographer Esko Männikkö from Finland.
From 02.10.2009 until 07.02.2010 Holdt's pictures were exhibited in Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
