Camilo Jose Vergara Receives National Humanities Medal (First Photographer to get Medal)
By EMILY DERUY
July 10, 2013
A New York-based documentarian who has dedicated his career to recording some of the poorest and most segregated communities in the United States became the first photographer to receive a National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama at the White House today.
Camilo José Vergara was born in Chile but has spent decades traveling to the places most tourists try to avoid: Detroit, Camden, Oakland, East Los Angeles.
His goal, he said during an interview after the medal ceremony, is to record things.
"Things change, rapidly," he said, "and a lot is lost."
He photographs decaying buildings and crumbling old churches that others consider an eye-sore, returning again and again to the same site to record the structures as communities shift around them.
"I think of my images as bricks that, when placed in context with each other, reveal shapes and meanings within these often neglected urban communities," he wrote in a piece for Times magazine. "Through photography, I have become a builder of virtual cities."
more
http://abcnews.go.com/story?id=19627783#.Ud7w3Bb9W4Q
Also
http://lightbox.time.com/2013/07/09/from-the-inner-cities-to-the-white-house-photographs-by-camilo-jose-vergara/#1
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