Richard Mosse (born 1980) is an Irish conceptual documentary photographer.

Early life and education

Mosse was born in Kilkenny, Ireland. He lives and works in New York and Berlin. He received a first class BA in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

from King's College London in 2001, an

MRes A Master of Research (abbr. MRes, MARes, MScRes, or MScR) degree is an internationally recognised advanced postgraduate research degree. In most cases, the degree is designed to prepare students for doctoral research. Increasingly, the degree may ...

in cultural studies from the

London Consortium From 1993 to 2012, The London Consortium was a graduate school in the UK offering multidisciplinary Masters and Doctoral programs in the humanities and cultural studies at the University of London. It was administered by Birkbeck, University of L ...

in 2003, a

postgraduate diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award pos ...

in fine art from

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

in 2005 and a photography MFA from

Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, paint ...

in 2008.

Work

Critic

Sean O'Hagan Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and f ...

, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', said "His images from there often seem to skirt the real and the fictional, simply though ictheir heightened and unreal colours. He has made the familiar seem strange and the real seem heightened to the point of absurdity. This is war reportage – but not as we know it." Willy Staley, writing in the ''

New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', said "Mosse highlights the eastern Congo's natural bounty while acknowledging both the medium's origins and, he points out, the West's tendency to see in the Congo only darkness and insanity."

Criticism

Mosse has received criticism for his work, notably from Ireland, for presenting difficult global conflicts or deeply personal situations amidst these conflicts in an overly aestheticised way, being described as "problematic", "troubling", and discomforting.

Career

He has worked in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Palestine, Haiti and the former Yugoslavia. Mosse made photographs of the war in the eastern

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

using colour

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from aroun ...

film with which he intended to create a new perspective on conflict. Kodak Aerochrome is a false-color infrared film originally intended for aerial vegetation surveys and for military reconnaissance, such as to identify camouflaged targets. It registers light that is invisible to humans, rendering the grass and trees and soldiers' uniforms in vivid hues of lavender, crimson and hot pink. He used this same film to make a documentary film entitled ''The Enclave'', with cinematographer Trevor Tweeten and composer Ben Frost. This work was published in three publications, exhibited in solo exhibitions, and won the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize in 2014. In 2017 his video installation ''Incoming'', commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria and the Barbican Art Gallery, also made with Frost and Tweeten, won the Prix Pictet. In 2020 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

Solo exhibitions

*2008: ''Airside,'' Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. *2012: ''Infra,'' Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin. *2012: ''The Enclave'' (film),

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. Eight-channel version of his video installation. *2014: ''The Enclave,''

The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established i ...

, London. *2017: ''Incoming,'' Curve Gallery, Barbican Centre, London; Le Lieu unique, Nantes, France, 2019.

Awards

* 2006–2008: Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Performing and Visual Arts from the

Annenberg Public Policy Center The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) is a center for the study of public policy at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. It has offices in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, where the University of Pennsy ...

, University of Pennsylvania * 2011:

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

from the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowships to professionals who have demonstrated exceptional ...

* 2014: Deutsche Börse Photography Prize *2017: Prix Pictet, for ''Heat Maps'' * 2020: Honorary Fellowship of the

, Bristol

Filmography

* ''The Enclave'' (2013) – a collaboration with cinematographer Trevor Tweeten and composer Ben Frost. Made using 16 mm infrared film transferred to HD video. Shown as an installation comprising multiple double-sided screens installed in a darkened chamber. * ''Incoming'' (2017) – a collaboration with Frost and Tweeten.

Bibliography

* ''Infra.'' New York, NY:

Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An ...

, 2012. With an essay by

Adam Hochschild Adam Hochschild (; born October 5, 1942) is an American author, journalist, historian and lecturer. His best-known works include ''King Leopold's Ghost'' (1998), '' To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918'' (2011), '' Bu ...

. ** Hardback. . ** Collector's edition. Edition of 500 copies. * ''The Enclave.'' New York, NY: Aperture, 2013. With an essay by

Jason Stearns Jason Kauahooululaunaheleonakuahiwi Stearns (born October 31, 1976) is an American writer who worked for ten years in the Congo, including three years during the Second Congo War. He first traveled to the Congo in 2001 to work for a local human ...

. ** Paperback. . Edition of 750 copies. ** Boxed set. Edition of 250 copies. Includes a vinyl record with sound and music, designed by Ben Frost; a poster featuring an image by Mosse; a transcription from the film; and a signed-and-numbered copy of the book. *''A Supplement to The Enclave''. Berlin:

Broken Dimanche Press Broken Dimanche Press (BDP) is an international publisher and art platform founded by John Holten and Line Madsen Simenstad in 2009 in Berlin. History The name of the press was inspired by Yves Klein's Dimanche-Le Journal d’un Seul Jour, a ...

, 2014. . Edited by

John Holten John Holten is an Irish-born novelist, artist, and curator He is a co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Berlin-based publishing company Broken Dimanche Press. He is a curator at NR / Projects, in Berlin Mitte. Since autumn 2015 Holten is a columni ...

. With texts by Chrisy Lange, Patrick Mudekereza and Charles Stankievech and conversations between Richard Mosse and Trevor Tweeten and Ben Frost. Newspaper format. *''Richard Mosse Catalogue.'' Curve Publications. London: Barbican, 2017. With an interview between Mosse and Alona Pardo, and a text by Anthony Downey. *''Incoming.'' London: Mack, 2017. . With texts by

Giorgio Agamben Giorgio Agamben ( , ; born 22 April 1942) is an Italian philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception, form-of-life (borrowed from Ludwig Wittgenstein) and '' homo sacer''. The concept of biopolit ...

and Mosse. *''The Castle.'' London: Mack, 2018. With texts in a booklet by

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butle ...

, Paul K Saint Amour,

Behrouz Boochani Behrouz Boochani ( fa, بهروز بوچانی; born 23 July 1983) is a Kurdish-Iranian journalist, human rights defender, writer and film producer living in New Zealand. He was held in the Australian-run Manus Island detention centre in Papu ...

and Mosse. . Second edition, 2019.

References

External links

*
Moss profile
carliergebauer.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Mosse, Richard 1980 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Yale School of Art alumni Irish photographers People from County Kilkenny Irish contemporary artists Magnum photographers 21st-century British photographers