Jacob Holdt
Encyclopedia
Jacob Holdt is a Danish photographer
, writer and lecturer. His mammoth work, American Pictures, gained international fame in 1977 for its effective photographic revelations about the hardships of America's lower classes.
in Copenhagen. In 1950, the family moved to Fåborg – a small village near Esbjerg in western Jutland - where he spent most of his childhood. After being thrown out of high school in 1965 he went to Krogerup Folk High school, north of Copenhagen. After 8 months in the Royal Palace Guard he was thrown out and then for a couple years involved in protests against the Vietnam War
and the conditions in the Third World
.
invited to work on a farm. From here he planned to hitchhike to Chile where he intended to support Salvador Allende
’s democratic struggle for social justice. But on his way through the United States, he was held up at gunpoint by young blacks and instead quickly got involved in the black struggle for the next four years.
Arriving with only $40 in his pocket, Jacob Holdt was shocked and fascinated by the social differences he encountered. He ended up staying in the USA more than five years, criss-crossing the country by hitchhiking more than 100,000 miles and recording his impressions on film.
He sold blood plasma
twice a week to buy film. He stayed in more than 400 homes - from the poorest migrant workers to America's wealthiest families (for instance, the Rockefellers) - recording these encounters on over 15,000 photographs taken with a cheap pocket camera. He would live with people who were so hungry they ate cat food and dirt, often in rat-infested shacks.
His work captures the daily struggle of the American underclass and contrasts it with images of the life of America's elite. Upon returning to Denmark in 1976, Holdt began lecturing on social differences in the United States and published a book: American Pictures ISBN 87-981702-0-1. which is available on Holdt's website. He later presented his slideshow at over 300 college campuses across the United States.http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=8209 http://transcript.owu.edu/index021302.html
American Pictures had a profound impact on the youth in Scandinavia
and Germany
, and the Communist bloc saw a chance to use his work against President Carter’s
human rights campaign. Holdt was approached by the KGB
a few months after his slideshow became a success and he saw a chance with the help of the Soviet Union
to penetrate the Marxist bureaucracy in Angola
. Here it was his intention to spend the money earned from American Pictures in building a hospital in support of the anti-apartheid struggle.
However, when his book was published in 1977 the KGB revealed to him that it was their intention to use it in an all-out campaign against Carter to try to demonstrate that human rights were just as bad off in America as in Russia. Only a month after its publication Holdt therefore hired his lawyer, Søren B. Henriksen, to stop his own book all over the world. Except for Germany, Holland and Scandinavia, where they already had contracts with his Danish publisher, he managed to stop it, and did not release it again until the end of Communism.
As a result of losing most of his expected income from the book, Holdt could not finance a hospital, but only a nursing school built for the Namibia
n resistance group SWAPO in Kwanzu Zul in Angola with matching funds from the European Union
. After the liberation of Zimbabwe
in 1982 he also supported projects there. At the end of the cold war he was briefly accused of having been a KGB-agent, but it was easy for his publisher, Dagbladet Information
, to show that he had actually worked for the other side and had even flown President Carter’s human rights envoy over to approve his film manuscript intended for the American market.
Along with his continuing lectures Holdt has since 1991 worked as a volunteer for CARE in several third-world countries. He has continued to document the lives of those in poverty while working for CARE.
His most recent projects have also focused on white supremacist hate groups. Holdt spent time living with leaders of the Ku Klux Klan
and photographing their daily lives. Holdt is sympathetic with the people he encountered in these groups, pointing out that most grew up under marginal circumstances and often were victims of child abuse. Holdt emphasizes the similarities in background between white supremacists and poor minorities.
Holdt's ability to capture representations of the "filthy rich" and poverty in America resulted in him being nominated as one of the four shortlisted photographers for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2008. At the exhibition at The Photographer's Gallery in London Holdt presented his photographs for the prize in an effective and mesmerizing slideshow - each image beamed onto a plain white wall in a darkened room, immersing the audience in the dark and dreary world of poverty and maximizing the impact.
Holdt lost out on the prize to the photographer Esko Männikkö from Finland. Later he received the Fogtdal Photography Prize in Denmark, where he also is the recipient of life long artist’s grant from the government.
From 02.10.2009 until 07.02.2010 Holdt's pictures were exhibited in Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
.
, he speaks emotionally of the time he spent with Sapphire
in the 1980s in Harlem
. They inspired each other and shared a deep interest in issues of oppression having both explored it from the street level.
Photography in Denmark
Photography in Denmark has developed from strong participation and interest in the very beginnings of the art in 1839 to the success of a considerable number of Danes in the world of photography today...
, writer and lecturer. His mammoth work, American Pictures, gained international fame in 1977 for its effective photographic revelations about the hardships of America's lower classes.
Early life
Born in 1947, Holdt was the son of the pastor at Grundtvig's ChurchGrundtvig's Church
Grundtvig's Church is located in the Bispebjerg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a rare example of expressionist church architecture. Due to its unusual appearance, it is one of the best known churches in the city.- History :...
in Copenhagen. In 1950, the family moved to Fåborg – a small village near Esbjerg in western Jutland - where he spent most of his childhood. After being thrown out of high school in 1965 he went to Krogerup Folk High school, north of Copenhagen. After 8 months in the Royal Palace Guard he was thrown out and then for a couple years involved in protests against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and the conditions in the Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
.
Life as a photographer
In the spring of 1970, Holdt set off to CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
invited to work on a farm. From here he planned to hitchhike to Chile where he intended to support Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
’s democratic struggle for social justice. But on his way through the United States, he was held up at gunpoint by young blacks and instead quickly got involved in the black struggle for the next four years.
Arriving with only $40 in his pocket, Jacob Holdt was shocked and fascinated by the social differences he encountered. He ended up staying in the USA more than five years, criss-crossing the country by hitchhiking more than 100,000 miles and recording his impressions on film.
He sold blood plasma
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
twice a week to buy film. He stayed in more than 400 homes - from the poorest migrant workers to America's wealthiest families (for instance, the Rockefellers) - recording these encounters on over 15,000 photographs taken with a cheap pocket camera. He would live with people who were so hungry they ate cat food and dirt, often in rat-infested shacks.
His work captures the daily struggle of the American underclass and contrasts it with images of the life of America's elite. Upon returning to Denmark in 1976, Holdt began lecturing on social differences in the United States and published a book: American Pictures ISBN 87-981702-0-1. which is available on Holdt's website. He later presented his slideshow at over 300 college campuses across the United States.http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=8209 http://transcript.owu.edu/index021302.html
American Pictures had a profound impact on the youth in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and the Communist bloc saw a chance to use his work against President Carter’s
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
human rights campaign. Holdt was approached by the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
a few months after his slideshow became a success and he saw a chance with the help of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to penetrate the Marxist bureaucracy in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. Here it was his intention to spend the money earned from American Pictures in building a hospital in support of the anti-apartheid struggle.
However, when his book was published in 1977 the KGB revealed to him that it was their intention to use it in an all-out campaign against Carter to try to demonstrate that human rights were just as bad off in America as in Russia. Only a month after its publication Holdt therefore hired his lawyer, Søren B. Henriksen, to stop his own book all over the world. Except for Germany, Holland and Scandinavia, where they already had contracts with his Danish publisher, he managed to stop it, and did not release it again until the end of Communism.
As a result of losing most of his expected income from the book, Holdt could not finance a hospital, but only a nursing school built for the Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
n resistance group SWAPO in Kwanzu Zul in Angola with matching funds from the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. After the liberation of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
in 1982 he also supported projects there. At the end of the cold war he was briefly accused of having been a KGB-agent, but it was easy for his publisher, Dagbladet Information
Dagbladet Information
Information , full name: Dagbladet Information , is a Danish newspaper published Monday through Saturday.Originally established and edited by Børge Outze and published during the World War II by the Danish resistance movement. Information was illegal during the war as it was not regulated by the...
, to show that he had actually worked for the other side and had even flown President Carter’s human rights envoy over to approve his film manuscript intended for the American market.
Along with his continuing lectures Holdt has since 1991 worked as a volunteer for CARE in several third-world countries. He has continued to document the lives of those in poverty while working for CARE.
His most recent projects have also focused on white supremacist hate groups. Holdt spent time living with leaders of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
and photographing their daily lives. Holdt is sympathetic with the people he encountered in these groups, pointing out that most grew up under marginal circumstances and often were victims of child abuse. Holdt emphasizes the similarities in background between white supremacists and poor minorities.
Holdt's ability to capture representations of the "filthy rich" and poverty in America resulted in him being nominated as one of the four shortlisted photographers for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2008. At the exhibition at The Photographer's Gallery in London Holdt presented his photographs for the prize in an effective and mesmerizing slideshow - each image beamed onto a plain white wall in a darkened room, immersing the audience in the dark and dreary world of poverty and maximizing the impact.
Holdt lost out on the prize to the photographer Esko Männikkö from Finland. Later he received the Fogtdal Photography Prize in Denmark, where he also is the recipient of life long artist’s grant from the government.
From 02.10.2009 until 07.02.2010 Holdt's pictures were exhibited in Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located directly on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark with an extensive permanent collection of modern and contemporary art, dating from World War II and up...
.
Relationship with Sapphire
The film Precious premiered in Denmark in February 2010. Jacob Holdt was invited to introduce the event. In an interview reported in the Danish newspaper PolitikenPolitiken
Politiken is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus.The newspaper comes third among Danish newspapers in terms of both number of readers and circulated copies ....
, he speaks emotionally of the time he spent with Sapphire
Sapphire (author)
Sapphire is an American author and performance poet.- Early life :Ramona Lofton was born in Fort Ord, California, one of four children of an Army couple who relocated within the United States and abroad. After a disagreement concerning where the family would settle, her parents separated, with...
in the 1980s in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. They inspired each other and shared a deep interest in issues of oppression having both explored it from the street level.
Holdt's works
- American Pictures (1977)
- Indians and campesinos in Bolivia (1991)
- Nepals Jord (1996)