Eli Reed
168th Street National Armory, New York City, 1987

Gelatin silver print, 12 x 17.5 inches
Signed, on print, verso
Unframed
Courtesy of Alison Taggart-Barone and Larry Barone
Estimated value: $5,000

About the Artist:
Eli Reed

Eli Reed was born in the US and studied pictorial illustration at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, graduating in 1969. In 1982 he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. At Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government he studied political science, urban affairs, and the prospects for peace in Central America.

Reed began photographing as a freelancer in 1970. His work from El Salvador, Guatemala, and other Central American countries attracted the attention of Magnum in 1982. He was nominated to the agency the following summer and became a full member in 1988.

In the same year, Reed photographed the effects of poverty on America’s children for a film documentary called Poorest in the Land of Plenty, narrated by Maya Angelou. He went on to work as a stills and photographer for major motion pictures. His video documentary Getting Out was shown at the New York Film Festival in 1993 and honored by the 1996 Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame International Film and Video Competition in the documentary category.

Reed’s special reports include a long-term study on Beirut (1983–87), which became his first highly acclaimed book, Beirut, City of Regrets (1988); "The ousting of Baby Doc Duvalier in Haiti" (1986); "US military action in Panama" (1989); the Walled City in Hong Kong; and, perhaps most notably, his documentation of the African American experience over more than 20 years. Spanning the 1970s through the end of the 1990s, his book Black in America (1997) includes images from the Crown Heights riots and the Million Man March.

In 2021, Reed was honored with three renowned awards: the National Press Photographers Association Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award; Harvard University Nieman Foundation I.F. Stone Medal award for Long Term Investigative Journalism; and now the Gordon Parks Choice of Weapons Award.

Reed has lectured and taught at International Center of Photography, Columbia University, and New York University, New York; and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. He currently works as clinical professor of photojournalism at the University of Texas in Austin.

Website: magnumphotos.com
Instagram: @elireedmagnum