Open See began four years ago as a Magnum commission for the Greek Olympiad in the summer of 2004. This project tells of the journeys of refugee and immigrant populations who travel from war torn and economically devastated countries, often leaving AIDS ravaged communities or totalitarian regimes to make new homes in Europe. Despite facing seemingly insurmountable difficulties, dreams of freedom and an indomitable will to survive are continual threads that tether migrants and refugees to their history and drive them forward toward a new life. Despite the harsh realities they endure, their stories are replete with hope and heroism.
This immigrant population, including refugees, asylum seekers, and trafficked peoples, reside in compromised living situations, often on the margins of society. Open See is a body of photographic work that documents these diverse peoples who are natives of such places as Iraq, Somalia, Congo, Ukraine, Albania, Russia, Poland, Nigeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, the Philippines, Sudan, Kenya, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Palestine, and Moldavia. While much of this project is specific to the socio-economic landscape of Greece and the plight of refugees who make Greece their new homeland, it speaks to larger issues and raises questions about racism and cultural persecution across the globe.
Jim Goldberg’s innovative and multidisciplinary approach to documentary makes him a landmark photographer and social practitioner of our times. His work often examines the lives of neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations through long-term, in depth collaborations which investigate the nature of American myths about class, power, and happiness.
A prolific and influential bookmaker, Goldberg’s recent books include Ruby Every Fall, Nazraeli Press (2014); The Last Son, Super Labo (2016); Raised By Wolves Bootleg (2016), Candy, Yale University Press (2017), Darrell & Patricia, Pier 24 Photography (2018) and Gene (2018).
Goldberg has exhibited widely, including shows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; SFMOMA; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Corcoran Gallery of Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Yale University Art Gallery. His work is also regularly featured in group exhibitions around the world. Public collections including MoMA, SFMOMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Getty, the National Gallery, LACMA, MFA Boston, The High Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Library of Congress, MFA Houston, National Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Goldberg has received three National Endowment of the Arts Fellowships in Photography, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award, and the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, among many other honors and grants.
Goldberg is Professor Emeritus at the California College of the Arts. He is represented by Casemore Gallery in San Francisco. Goldberg joined Magnum Photos in 2002.
One of the more beautiful and startling photo books I've seen in a long while. A rich panorama of immigrant life in Greece that doesn't flinch at the often grim stories told by the individuals captured in Goldberg's photographs. Each startling image seems meticulously composed and chosen, but what makes the book so forceful is its masterful pacing and collection as a whole.