ATHENS, Ohio (Oct. 14, 2008)— The local student chapter of National Press Photographers Association will present “The Collected Works of Larry Towell” Monday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Baker Center Theatre.

Towell is a member of the prestigious photo agency Magnum. According to his Web site Towell’s business card reads “Human Being,” and much of his work is influenced by life experience.

 “Larry’s an amazing guy, the story about his life is just as interesting as the photos he’s going to show,” Jim Korpi said former NPPA president, and event organizer.

Raised in rural Ontario, Towell grew up in a large family. After teaching folk music to support his family, in 1984 he began freelance photography. Towell focused much of his work on the disposed, exiled and peasant rebellions. He covered the Nicaraguan Contra war, and his essay “Paradise Lost” exposed the environmental consequences of the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

Towell said of his own work, “if there’s one theme that connects all my work, I think it’s that of land-lessness; how land makes people into who they are and what happens to them when they lose it and thus lose their identities.”

Towell has won numerous awards, held 17 exhibitions and written 10 books. He’s done in-depth reporting in El Salvador and Palestine, as well as documented the life of Mexican migrant workers.

“Towell is doing the long-term documentary work that journalists and photojournalists dream of doing: covering something that they are passionate about in depth,” said Korpi.

Towell recently released a new book The World from My Front Porch, a project about his own life in family in rural Ontario.

The evening will be a multidimensional experience with Towell and his work accompanied by experimental harmonica player Mike Stevens. Towell will sing, play guitar and read poems accompanying his photography. Towell will also be signing copies of his books, which will be available for sale.

For more information on Towell visit his site at http://www.magnumphotos.com/larrytowell.