Label TextI feel totally responsible for what I see. I feel totally responsible for what I photograph. —Danny Lyon
Building on Walker Evans’s documentary approach to distill the essence of American life from simple and ordinary scenes, Danny Lyon has forged a new style of photojournalism and documentary photography—immersive, participatory, and from the inside out. For five decades, his uncompromising approach to his subject matter—from Civil Rights (Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement) to a Chicago motorcycle club (The Bikeriders), to inmates in a Texas prison (Conversations with the Dead), to the demolition and redevelopment of lower Manhattan, and more recently, the Occupy Movement—has been motivated by his compassion for the struggles of humanity and a deep commitment to his artistic vision. Each project has been accompanied by a beautifully edited book, which in layout, design, and sequencing advanced the importance of the photo-book as an art object itself. Lyon has also made collages and produced a significant body of films.
(Suzanne Weaver, 2019)