Description

Welsh photographer David Hurn was born in England and moved back to Wales in 1970, initially for a year but then he never left. Through photographing the country, Hurn hoped he might be able to define something of Welsh identity. “The way I would do it was to wander around Wales and photograph the things that I thought were interesting or significant and maybe if I put those together like a jigsaw puzzle it would end up with something that would say ‘This is my Welsh culture’,” explains Hurn. “And of course that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. I’m still struggling to find what I mean.”

Life, as it unfolds in front of the camera, is full of so much complexity, wonder, and surprise that I find it unnecessary to create new realities. There is more pleasure, for me, in things as they are

David Hurn
© David Hurn | Magnum Photos

A self-taught photographer, David Hurn (b.1934) began his career in 1955 as an assistant at the Reflex Agency. He gained his early reputation through his reportage of the 1956 Hungarian revolution and became a full member of Magnum Photos in 1967. In 1973 he set up the influential School of Documentary Photography in Newport, Wales and remained director until 1989.

His work is held in major collections including British Council, London; ICP, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Bibliothèque nationale de France and National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, amongst others.

David Hurn continues to live and work from his home in Tintern, Wales.

© David Hurn | Magnum Photos

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