The life of a war photographer may sound like the elegant, globe-trotting stuff of office-cubicle daydreams, but as celebrated conflict photojournalist Lynsey Addario notes in her 2015 memoir, It’s What I Do, the reality of the job is often less flashy—and more emotionally driven—than it appears. “I see images in newspapers, magazines, on the internet—refugee camps in Darfur, women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, wounded veterans—and my heart leaps,” she writes of pursuing the work that regularly separates her from her family and often puts her directly in harm’s way. “I am suddenly overcome with this quiet angst—a restlessness that means I know I will go.”
Now, Addario’s first solo gallery exhibition, "Raw, curated by Danny Moynihan, is on view at the Lyles King gallery in New York City, where it will run through November 9. Vogue spoke to Addario about making the leap from photojournalism to fine art; the importance of capturing the subtler, less violent parts of war; and her advice for other women in similar fields. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
Vogue: How does it feel to see so much of your work in one place?
Lynsey Addario: I mean, it’s a tiny collection compared to 25 years of war photography, but it’s really interesting to see the curation and these images of war and climate issues framed and on the walls of a beautiful gallery in New York.
What was it like working with curator Danny Moynihan?
It was amazing. Danny is actually my husband’s father’s cousin, so I’ve known Danny for years, but he also has always been a really big advocate of my work and is obviously very established in the art world as an incredible artist and writer. It was a great process; it was very collaborative. I started by dumping decades [worth] of my archive on him—some of my favorite images that have sold in the past but also ones that have resonated with me over time. And then I just allowed him to do his curation because I thought it would be interesting to see how someone who’s not at all in the world of journalism would curate this body of work for a fine-arts space. One of the things that I always try to do with my work is to get people who wouldn’t normally pay attention to conflict or humanitarian crises to stop and see a photo and ask questions and engage with the issue. So crossing that boundary from journalism to fine art is a really exciting process because it’s a whole different audience.
In this time of seemingly unceasing global conflict, is there anything you wish viewers of the news—and your work—understood better or differently?
I don’t tend to believe that the most graphic images are always the most effective. I think they’re necessary to see as a sort of documentation of all of the horrors going on in our world, but I also feel like it’s really important to try to convey the horrors of the story in a way that engages people. War is not always frontline, right? War affects people, especially civilians, in every spectrum of life. I just recently did this story for The New York Times where I followed a six-year-old girl with cancer whose chemotherapy treatment was affected by the war in Ukraine, and she ultimately just passed away in August. That, for me, is sort of a quintessential look at how war affects not only people on the front line, and not only through bombings and air strikes, but also shelter and the general health of the population.
Of all the locations you’ve visited and chronicled, is there one you think about most often?
I’ve been doing this for so long, and there are so many places that I have visited over so many years. Obviously, I do tend to go back a lot to places like Afghanistan, and I spent probably six years chronicling what was happening in Darfur. I worked in Iraq for many years, Lebanon, across Africa, and most recently I’ve been going back and forth to Ukraine. Each place holds a very special place in my heart and mind, and each tells a very different narrative. There’s never one place that’s, like, the place for me; it’s always about the story too.
Is there any advice you would give to other women balancing motherhood with demanding, fulfilling work?
I’ve been working really hard and hustling since I was 21, and I managed to find a husband who’s incredibly supportive and allows me to go off and do my work for long stretches at a time while he takes care of the kids and holds down a household. But that’s rare, you know? My advice to women is to figure out your priorities, and if it’s work, that can mean personal sacrifices. If your goal is to have a family and be in love and have children, it might be hard to rise to the top of your field of work because there are people who are willing to make those sacrifices. It’s just hard! It’s a very difficult job.
