Lynsey Addario Biography

Lynsey Addario (born 1973 Norwalk, Connecticut) is an American photojournalist currently based in London. Her work often focuses on conflicts and human rights issues, especially the role of women in traditional societies.

Life and work

She graduated from Staples High School, in 1991. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a B.A. in International Relations and Italian in 1995. She began photographing professionally in 1996. After spending time in Argentina at the Buenos Aires Herald, she began freelancing for the Associated Press, with Cuba as a focus. In 2000, she photographed in Afghanistan under Taliban control. She has since covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, the Congo, and Haiti. She has covered stories throughout the Middle East and Africa. She has visited Darfur or neighboring Chad at least once a month from August 2004.

She has photographed for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic.

In Pakistan on May 9, 2009, Addario was involved in an automobile accident while returning to Islamabad from an assignment at a refugee camp. Her collar bone (clavicle) was broken, another journalist was injured, and the driver was killed.

Addario was one of four New York Times journalists who were missing in Libya from March 16"21, 2011. The New York Times reported on March 18, 2011 that Libya had agreed to free her and three colleagues: Anthony Shadid, Stephen Farrell and Tyler Hicks. The Libyan government released the four journalists on March 21, 2011. She reports that she was threatened with death and repeatedly groped during her captivity by the Libyan Army.

Addario told the press that "Physically we were blindfolded and bound. In the beginning, my hands and feet were bound very tightly behind our backs and my feet were tied with shoelaces. I was blindfolded most of the first three days, with the exception of the first six hours. I was punched in the face a few times and groped repeatedly." And "It was incredibly intense and violent. It was abusive throughout, both psychologically and physically. It was very chaotic and very aggressive. For me, there was a lot of groping right away. Sort of everyone who had to pick me up and carry me somewhere, they would reach around and grab my breasts and touch my butt--everyone who came near me.

In November 2011, The New York Times wrote a letter of complaint on behalf of Addario to the Israeli government, after allegations that Israeli soldiers at the Erez Crossing had strip-searched and mocked her and forced her to go through an X-ray scanner three times despite knowing that she was pregnant. Addario reported that she had "never, ever been treated with such blatant cruelty." The Israeli Defence ministry subsequently issued an apology to both Addario and The New York Times.

The extensive exhibition In Afghanistan at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway has her photos of Afghan women juxtaposed with Tim Hetherington's photographs from American soldiers in the Kerengal Valley.

Addario is married to Paul de Bendern, a journalist with Reuters. They married in July 2009.

Awards

She is the recipient of multiple awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 2009. Her work in Waziristan, Sept. 7, 2008, was part of work receiving the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for International Reporting. She won the Getty Images Grant for Editorial photography in 2008 for her work in Darfur. She received the Infinity Award in 2002 by the International Center of Photography.