Today, March 29th, the photographer would have Abbas Attar celebrated his 80th birthday and was honored by Google with a very beautiful doodle, which is now completely in black and white. But this is not intended to be a form of mourning, especially on Good Friday, but rather underlines the style of the photojournalist, who is best remembered for such real shots “without color”.
Today’s Google Doodle for Abbas Attar shows the photographer himself photographing himself in front of a mirror – the photographer’s version of a selfie, if you will. Of course, the doodle today is in black and white, because Abbas Attar was best known for images that draw their power and people’s imagination from the fact that they are not in color.
The Google lettering is of course monochrome and is made up of several sheets of photo paper on which the individual letters can be seen. The look of Abbas Attar himself also appears very strong in this photo, which is presumably an edited real photo. Abbas, as he always called himself only by his first name, had held himself in this way several times.
That’s why Abbas Attar photographed in black and white
When I take photos, I see black and white. I find myself in a state of grace: in full awareness of light and movement, I perceive an event in its political, social, religious or even purely aesthetic dimensions. At the same time, I develop an idea of the relationship between humans, nature and animals. It’s easier for me to do this in black and white because black and white isn’t real. The color is distracting. My photography is a form of thinking.
Little is known about Abbas’ early life, but he fell in love with photography before moving to Paris. He began to focus his work on reporting on social developments in developing countries.
In his six-decade career, he covered and prosecuted wars and revolutions in Biafra, Bangladesh, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Bosnia and the Middle East, including the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Chile, Cuba and South Africa during apartheid, among others. a lifelong interest in religion and its interface with society.
From 1978 to 1979, Abbas covered the Iranian revolution. This visionary work documenting the rise of religious fundamentalism was published in the landmark book Iran: the Confiscated Revolution. After the revolution, Abbas traveled through Mexico, trying to define his own aesthetic. He photographed the country as a novelist would write about it, resulting in the books Return to Oapan and Return to Mexico, Journeys Beyond the Mask.
In the years that followed, Abbas documented the world‘s major religions, beginning with the resurgence of radical Islam beginning in 1987. This work took on particular significance after 9/11, spurring him to document the aftermath in a seven-year journey through 16 countries the Islamic world. He then photographed Christianity, Animism, Buddhism, Hinduism and finally Judaism at the time of his death. His prescient work examined how religious fanaticism replaced political ideologies as the main source of conflict around the world.
With his work published worldwide, Abbas was a long-time member of a renowned photo agency and one of the greatest photographers of all time. His humanistic images live on, inspiring future generations to strive for clarity and honesty to gain a better understanding of our world. And the people who live in it.
Happy birthday, Abbas!
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