Joel Meyerowitz is an award-winning photographer whose work has appeared in over 350 exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world. He has had solo shows at The Museum of Modern Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Boston Museum of Fine Art, and at many other venues abroad.

Born in New York City in 1938, Meyerowitz earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Ohio State University, where he studied painting and medical illustration. He worked as a graphic designer and art director until he took up photography in 1962, having been inspired after working with Robert Frank on a photo assignment. In the 60’s, Meyerowitz was instrumental in changing the attitude toward the use of color photography from one of resistance to nearly universal acceptance. He uses an 8x10 large format camera to produce luminous photographs of landscapes and people. Photo District News magazine once said: “To read a Meyerowitz image is to see the elements in his photographs come together to form multiple narratives, delightful little stories within the greater context of the larger world.”

His first book, Cape Light, is considered a classic work of color photography and has sold more than 100,000 copies during its 25-year life. He is the author of 14 other books, including Bystander: The History of Street Photography, St. Louis and the Arch, A Summer's Day and Tuscany: Inside the Light.

Within a few days of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Meyerowitz began to create an archive of the destruction and recovery at Ground Zero and the immediate neighborhood. The World Trade Center Archive is available for research, exhibition, and publication at The Museum of the City of New York.

In 2001, The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department asked Meyerowitz to create a special exhibition of images from the archive to send around the world. The images traveled to more than 200 cities in 60 countries and over three and a half million people viewed the exhibition. Meyerowitz was also invited to represent the U.S. at the 8th Venice Biennale for Architecture with his photographs from the archive. The show that was exhibited in Venice is currently touring the U.S.

Meyerowitz has received two Guggenheim fellowships and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. He is currently photographing more than 50 parks throughout New York City area and surrounding communities for the project “A Year in the Parks.”
His new book AFTERMATH: THE WORLD TRADE CENTER ARCHIVE (Phaidon Press, Sept. 2006) will be published to mark the 5th anniversary of September 11.

To read more about Joel Meyerowtiz visit www.joelmeyerowitz.com.