Lynsey Addario
Lynsey Addario
Lynsey Addariois an American photojournalist. Her work often focuses on conflicts and human rights issues, especially the role of women in traditional societies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhotographer
Date of Birth13 November 1973
CountryUnited States of America
car covering driver injured insurgents kidnapped near occupation taliban
I was kidnapped by Sunni insurgents near Fallujah, in Iraq, ambushed by the Taliban in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, and injured in a car accident that killed my driver while covering the Taliban occupation of the Swat Valley in Pakistan.
beauty choose experience learned peace people remember war witness worst
As a war correspondent and a mother, I've learned to live in two different realities... but it's my choice. I choose to live in peace and witness war - to experience the worst in people but to remember the beauty.
believed death knew pay possible willing work
I always knew my death would be a possible consequence of the work I do. But for me it was a price I was willing to pay because this is what I believed in.
rarely
I've rarely seen portrayals of photojournalists that seem accurate.
course life seems work
It seems like, yeah, of course - I always think my work is important, or I wouldn't risk my life for it.
sort third treated western
As a Western woman in the Middle East, I am often put in a different category. I am sort of like the third sex. I am not treated like a man. I am not treated like a woman. I am just treated like a journalist. That is usually really helpful.
bearing country foreign fruits history influence position taking witness
For me, it's more about being there, bearing witness to history, bearing witness to what's happening, what our country, the position our country is taking overseas. I want policy-makers to see the fruits of their decisions, basically, and to try and influence foreign policy.
chipping existed muslim parts profound strip women
The more I photographed Muslim women, the more I was able to metaphorically strip away the burqas and hijabs, and start chipping away at the profound misconceptions that existed in other parts of the world about these women and their culture.
believed convinced danger felt single stories traveling
I was undeterred by the danger of traveling as a single American woman through Taliban-governed land. I believed in the stories I wanted to tell, the stories I felt were underreported, and I was convinced that that belief would keep me alive.
experience held passionate people siblings whatever
I was lucky because I had parents who have enabled me to do whatever I was passionate about and never held my siblings and me back from anything. But I think a lot of people don't have that experience.
simply viewed western
In so many countries, Western journalists are viewed simply as dollar signs. We're ransom objects.
constantly feature solely trying
For me personally, I'm constantly trying to really re-negotiate how I'm going to make a living because I can't make a living solely off editorial. And I'm also still trying to tell long feature stories that are harder and harder to get assigned, you know.
constantly hard life stories struggle struggling wife work
I'm constantly struggling. You know, the stories that I feel like I could cover, do the work that I want to do and being a mother. That's really where my struggle is - and being a wife and having a life - and for me it's really hard to find that balance. I'm always struggling to find that balance.
assumed case connect consumed covering home troops wars wrongly
I just immediately connect everything to the wars I have been covering overseas, and that's not the case back home. I wrongly assumed all Americans at home were as consumed with our troops in Afghanistan as I was abroad.