CV
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Debi Cornwall
I am a documentary artist, researcher, investigator, and filmmaker who returned to visual expression after a 12-year career as a civil-rights lawyer.
My work illuminates invisible systems through still and moving images, sound, testimony, and archival material.
Film/Video
Jade Helm (14'30", 2022)
Pineland/Hollywood (10'36", 2021)
Books
Prix Elysée Nominee's Book (Photo Elysée, 2023)
Necessary Fictions (Radius Books, 2020)
Welcome to Camp America: Inside Guantánamo Bay (Radius Books, 2017)
Selected Awards, Honors, Fellowships, and Residencies
2023
Prix Elysée, Winner
Aesthetica Art Prize, Shortlisted Finalist
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Best Mini-Doc Competition Finalist
2022
Prix Elysée, 5th Edition (2022-2024), Nominee
San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, Jury Prize, Best Short Film
Boston Short Film Festival, Jury Prize, Best Experimental Film
2021
American Academy in Rome, Rome Prize, Nominee
Speranza Foundation Lincoln City Fellowship
Lucie Photo Book Prize, Shortlist
2020
Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles Photo-Text Book Award, Shortlist
Tim Hetherington Trust Visionary Award, Shortlist
2019
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship (Photography)
Leica Women Foto Project Award
W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant, Finalist
Tim Hetherington Trust Visionary Award, Shortlist
2018
Alice Award, Shortlist
PDN Annual, Publisher's Choice Award
Cuts & Burns Residency, Outpost Artists Resources (Jade Helm)
Lucie First Photo Book Prize, Finalist
Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Book Award, Longlist
Fotofest Charles Jing Fellowship (Juried exhibition prize)
International Center of Photography Infinity Award (Artist's Book), Nominee
2017
Harpo Foundation Visual Artist Grant
Paris Photo-Aperture First PhotoBook Award, Shortlist
Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles Photo-Text Book Award, Shortlist
Center for Emerging Visual Artists Fellowship (2017-2019)
Brown University Fitt Artist-in-Residence
2016
Punctum Award, Lianzhou Foto Festival (Juried prize)
Baum Award for an Emerging American Photographer, Nominee
Duke University Archive of Documentary Arts Collection Award for Women Documentarians
Critical Mass Top 50
2015
Speranza Foundation Lincoln City Fellowship
Grand Prix International de Photographie de Vevey (Switzerland), Shortlist
Foundation Support
David Rockefeller Fund
Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation
Foundation for Contemporary Arts FCA Emergency Grant COVID-19 Fund
Furthermore, a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund
Lannan Foundation
Pollination Project
Puffin Foundation
Violet Jabara Charitable Trust
Vital Projects Fund
Screenings & Film Festivals
2023
Official selection, 10th Freep Film Festival (Detroit, Michigan)
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Medium Festival
Official selection, 16th Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival (California)
Official selection, 20th Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (Missoula, Montana)
2022
Official selection, 25th Antimatter [Media Art] Festival (Victoria, BC, Canada)
Official selection, 24th VideoEx Experimental Film & Video Festival (Zurich, Switzerland)
Official selection, 29th Chicago Underground Film Festival (Chicago IL)
Official selection, 7th Boston Short Film Festival (Boston, MA)
Official selection, 21st SF DocFest (San Francisco, CA)
Official Selection, 13th Ghent Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival (Belgium)
Official selection, 22nd DC Independent Film Festival (Washington, D.C.)
2021
Official selection, interfilm, 37th International Short Film Festival Berlin (Germany)
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
Model Citizens, Photo Elysée (Lausanne, Switzerland) (29 June to 1 October)
2022
Welcome to Camp America: Inside Guantánamo Bay ("WCA"), Xposure Festival (Sharjah, U.A.E.)
2021
WCA, Stadthaus Ulm (Germany), curated by Daniela Yvonne Baumann
WCA, Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi (Belgium)
2018
WCA, les Rencontres de la Photographie en Gaspesie (Canada)
WCA, Cortona on the Move Festival (Italy)
WCA, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (PA)
WCA, Head On Photo Festival (Sydney, Australia)
2017
WCA, Steven Kasher Gallery (NYC)
WCA, Carriage House Gallery, Brown University (Providence, RI)
WCA, BMW Photo Space of GoEun Museum of Photography (Busan, S. Korea)
WCA, Centre de la Photographie Genève (Switzerland)
Punctum Award Special Exhibition, Chongqing (China)
2016
WCA, Lianzhou International Foto Festival (China) (catalogue) (Punctum Prize, juried award)
2015
WCA, Photoville (NYC)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition, York Art Gallery (U.K.)
Prix Elysée Nominees, ArtGenève (Switzerland)
2022
Guerra a distancia (War at a Distance), Museu d'Art Modern de Tarragona, SCAN Tarragona Festival
internacional de fotografía (curated by Natasha Christia) (Spain).
Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations: Chicago to Guantánamo, DePaul Art Museum (Chicago, IL)
With Abdualmalik Abud, Mansoor Adayfi, Djamel Ameziane, Muhammad Ansi, Ghaleb Al-Bihani, Dorothy Burge, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, Assad “Haroon” Gul, Mashaun Hendricks, Invisible Institute, Damon Locks, Lucky Pierre, Trevor Paglen, Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project, Khalid Qasim, Sabri Mohammad Ibrahim Al Qurashi, Ahmed Badr Rabbani, and Sarah-Ji Rhee.
2021
Photography is Dead. Long Live Photography!, Candela Gallery (Richmond, Virginia) (juried exhibition with catalogue)
2020
Leica Women Foto Award Winners, Photoville (NYC)
False Memory, Rugby Art Gallery & Museum (England)
Entrouvert (Half Open), Analix Forever Gallery (Geneva, Switzerland)
Leica Women Foto Project Award Exhibition, Leica Gallery (Boston, MA)
2018
Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Book Award Exhibition, Photo London
Discoveries of the Meeting Place, Fotofest Biennial (Houston, TX) (catalogue) (Charles Jing Fellowship, juried prize)
En Suspens (In Between), le BAL (Paris, France) (catalogue)
With Bas Jan Ader, Luc Delahaye, Darek Fortas, Hiwa K, Aglaia Konrad, Jacques-Henri Michot, Rabih Mroué, Mélanie Pavy, Sebastian Stumpf, Paola Yacoub, & Henk Wildschut, curated by Le BAL Director Diane Dufour.
2017
Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards Shortlist Exhibition, Paris Photo Fair,
Grand Palais (France), touring through 2018.
Hope, Beirut Art Fair (Lebanon), Annalix Forever Genève Contemporary Art Gallery
Bending the Frame, Gulf + Western Gallery, NYU Tisch School of the Arts (NYC).
With #Dysturb; Tim Hetherington; Jan Hoek; Chris Jordan; Jennifer Karady; Gideon Mendel; Celia A. Shapiro; Taryn Simon and Aaron Swartz; Chris Johnson, Hank Willis Thomas, Bayeté Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair; and Sumeja Tulic.
Something Fierce, Lannan Foundation Gallery (Santa Fe, NM)
With Christine Corday, Sharon Core, Roni Horn, Munson Hunt, An-My Lê, Sarah Pickering, and Victoria Sambunaris.
Aperture Summer Open: On Freedom, Aperture Gallery (NYC), curated by For Freedoms
La Nuit de l’Année, les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles (France)
Critical Mass Top 50, Artwork Network (Denver, CO)
2016
STUMP, Candela Gallery (Richmond, VA)
With Lindsey Beal, Sheila Pee Bright, Tom Kiefer, Mark Peterson, Brian Ulrich, and D.M. Whitman.
2015
GuatePhoto International Festival de Fotografía (Guatemala)
Encontros da Imagem XXV International Photo Festival (Portugal)
21st Annual Juried Show, Peter Urban Legacy Exhibition, Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, MA) (catalogue)
EXPOSURE, Photographic Resource Center (Boston, MA) (Juried exhibition)
CAPTURED, Newspace Center for Photography (Portland, OR) (Juried by curator Yaelle Amir)
Conceal & Reveal, Belfast Photo Festival (Northern Ireland)
2014
NEXT:, Castell Gallery (Asheville, NC) (Juried exhibition)
Photoville: 20 Emerging American Photographers, Leiden International Photo Festival (Netherlands)
Bibliography
Academic Publications:
Michelle Bogre, Photography as Activism: Images for Social Change, 2d Ed. (Routledge, forthcoming 2023).
Amber Ginsburg, Aaron Hughes, Aliya Hussain, and Audrey Petty, eds., Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations |
Chicago to Guantánamo (DePaul Art Museum, 2022), at 30-31, 120, 122-27, 146-47, 290.
Moritz Neumüller, ed., The Routledge Companion to Photography, Representation, and Social Justice
(Taylor & Francis, 2022), at 301, 336, 343-46, 350-51.
Rebecca Boguska, Ph.D., Guantánamo Frames (Meson Press, 2022), Chapter 2.
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Rupture and Reckoning: Guantánamo Turns 20, ECCHR
(11 January 2022), at pp. 137-42.
Alexandra Moore, Ph.D., "'Necessary Fictions': On the Sustaining Fantasies of the Forever War," presented in Just in Time:
Afterlives of Guantánamo and the War on Terror: The Forever War 20 Years After 9/11," 2021 MLA Convention (7 January 2021).
Alexandra Moore, Ph.D., "Across the Threshold of Detectability: Guantánamo in the Work of Debi Cornwall," ASAP Journal
(Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 6.1 January 2021), at pp. 211-234.
Esther Whitfield, Ph.D., "Guantánamo, Cuba: Poetry and Prison on Divided Ground," Comparative Literature Vol 72, Issue 3 (Duke University Press,
Sept. 1, 2020), at pp. 299-315.
Michelle Bogre, Documentary Photography Reconsidered: History, Theory, and Practice (Routledge, 2019), Online Companion
Interviews.
Daniel Grinberg, "Some Restrictions Apply: The Exhibition Spaces of Guantánamo Bay," Cinema Journal (July, 2018).
Connor Gordon, "Confronting Incarceration's Destructive Invisibility, Debi Cornwall & Amy Elkins, " Interview & Photo Essay,
Epistem Magazine at pp. 20-33 (The Prindle Institute for Ethics, DePauw University, February 2018).
Esther Whitfield, Ph.D., "Guantánamo and Community: Visual Approaches to the Base," in Guantánamo and American
Empire: The Humanities Respond, Don E. Walicek and Jessica Adams, eds. (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017).
Jean-Philippe Dedieu, "Guantánamo's Frames of War: A Dialogue with Debi Cornwall and Larry Siems," Humanity:
An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development, Vol. 8/1 (Spring 2017).
Selected Additional Publications:
In print:
Future Now 2023 Anthology, Aesthetica Magazine (March 2023), at pp. 28-29.
Bastian Tebarth, "Debi Cornwall zeigt Guantánamo als Sinnibild der USA und des »freien Westens«, Interview, Melodie & Rhythmus (1/2022), at p. 67.
Lou Tatsas, "Debi Cornwall," Fisheye Photo Review 2021.22, at pp. 226-31 (October 2021).
Dana Melaver, Necessary Fictions, Book review, Zeke Magazine (Fall 2021) at p. 73.
Jean Dykstra, "Debi Cornwall's Necessary Fictions," Book review, The Brooklyn Rail (July/August 2021), at p.99.
Finley Cutts, "à la guerre, comme à la guerre: Debi Cornwall, Necessary Fictions," Fisheye Magazine #48
(July 2021), at pp. 36-47.
Lou Tsatsas, "Debi Cornwall: Necessary Fictions," Fisheye Photo Review 2020.21 (May 2021).
Jean-Marie Wynants, "Quand d'Image Révèle ce qu'elle ne montre pas," Exhibition review, le MAD (Belgium) at pp. 22-23.
Harper's Magazine (March 2021), at p. 18.
Tom Seymour, "Krieg und Fiktion," Interview, Fotomagazin (Germany) (March 2021), at pp. 24-25.
Jean-Marc Bodson, "Bienvenue à Guantánamo," Exhibition review, La Libre Belgique (Belgium) (17 February 2021), at p. 19.
Yang Zhou, "Debi Cornwall: Necessary Fictions," Interview & Photo Essay, Cityzine (China) (January 2021), at pp. 88-98.
"Picture Power: Necessary Fictions," Photo Essay, Newsweek Japan (27 October 2020), at pp. 62-67.
Siddhartha Mitter, "Photoville Adds New Venues, Vistas, and Vision," Exhibition review, New York Times (22 September 2020), at C2.
Michael McCanne, "Black Sights," Book review, Art in America Magazine (June/July 2018), at pp. 51-53.
John McDonald, "Shifting the Focus" Exhibition review, Sydney Morning Herald (18 May 2018).
Erin Thompson, "Welcome to Camp America: Inside Guantánamo Bay," Book review, Zeke Magazine (Spring 2018).
Diane Dufour, Bartolomé Stanson & Julie Hérault, eds., In Between (Exhibition catalogue) (Le Bal & Shelter Press, 2018).
Moritz Neumüller, "Extreme Exposures," Book review, European Photography Magazine, No. 102 at pp. 64-70 (2018).
Aperture Foundation, “The 2017 Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards Shortlist: First PhotoBook,”
The Photobook Review at p. 11 (Issue 013/Fall 2017).
Drew Zeiba, “Debi Cornwall on Comfort and Captivity,” PIN-UP Magazine (Issue 23, Fall/Winter 2017/2018), at p. 252.
Izabela Radwanska Zhang, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," Book Review, British Journal of Photography at pp. 18-19
(November 2017).
David O'Neill, "Artful Volumes: Bookforum Contributors on the Season's Outstanding Art Books," Book review,
Bookforum, Vol. 4, Issue 3 at p. 26 (Fall 2017).
Seock Hyunhye, Interview & Exhibition review, Sajinyesul Photographic Art Magazine (Korea) (August 2017).
Clémentine Mercier, “Coquillages et Cuirassés,” Exhibition review, Libération (France) (12 May 2017).
Samuel Schellenberg, "Bienvenu à Guantánamo," Exhibition review, Le Courrier (Switzerland) (21 April 2017).
Monika Dommann, "Welche Farben hat Orange?” Exhibition review, WOZ Die Wochenzeitung (Switzerland)
(20 April 2017).
Caroline Stevan, "J'ai voulu montrer le fun de Guantánamo, selon les GIs," Interview & exhibition review, Le Temps
(Switzerland) (31 March 2017).
Anna Aznaour, "J’ai photographié d’ex-détenus de Guantánamo," Interview & exhibition review, Tribune de Genève
(Switzerland) (22 March 2017).
Nata Zhu, Interview, Photoworld Magazine (China) (January 2017).
David Drake, “Fotofest 2016 Reviewer’s Choice,” Fotomagazin (Germany) (20 July 2016).
Elodie Cabrera, “Hors la Loi Américaine," Polka Magazine (France) (October 2015).
Mark Feeney, “At the PRC, 13 Ways of Looking at the World,” Exhibition review, Boston Globe (25 June 2015).
"Picture Power: Gitmo at Home, Gitmo at Play," Photo essay, Newsweek Japan (3 December 2014).
"Contrast heerst op Guantánamo," Photo essay, de Morgen (Belgium) (16 October 2014).
"Guantánamo, Reframed," Photo essay, International N.Y. Times (14 October 2014).
Television, Radio, Online & Podcasts:
Lyle Rexer, "Debi Cornwall: New-Style Documentarian" (Interview), Photograph Magazine Vol. 19, No. 1 (3 Sept. 2023).
Lou Tatsas, "Musée de l'Elysée: Laia Abril et Debi Cornwall affirment leur engagement," Exhibition review, Fisheye (14 July 2023).
Erin L. Thompson and Maliha Tasnim, "Guantánamo's Artists Fight for Beauty," Hyperallergic (28 February 2023).
"Top 50 Exhibitions of 2022," Hyperallergic (listing DPAM's Tea, Torture & Reparations at #3 worldwide) (December 28, 2022).
Inès Boittiaux, "Debi Cornwall et le théâtre du monde," Beaux Arts Magazine (11 July 2022).
Lori Waxman, "Art Behind Bars: 'Tea, Torture & Reparations' at DePaul makes connections between police violence in
Chicago and torture in Guantánamo," Exhibition review, Chicago Tribune (27 April 2022).
"Debi Cornwall: Necessary Fictions," Interview and photo essay, Truth in Photography (Spring 2022).
Alexandra Chaves, "Xposure: How Photographer Debi Cornwall Captured the Humanity Inside Guantánamo Bay,"
Review, The National (U.A.E.), 15 February 2022.
Lewis Bush, "'I felt a responsibility to look,': As Guantánamo Bay Turns 20, Photographers Reflect on the US Prison's Legacy,"
The Art Newspaper, 19 January 2022.
Richard B. Woodward, "How 9/11 Changed Art," The Wall Street Journal, 9 September 2021.
Alexandra S. Moore, "Debi Cornwall's Necessary Fictions: On the Sustaining Fantasies
of the Forever War," Book review, The Polis Project, 8 September 2021.
Miriam Pensack, "The Genre Guantánamo Made," Los Angeles Review of Books, 9 June 2021.
John Devos, "Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi: Debi Cornwall: Welcome to Camp America," Exhibition review,
l'Oeil de la Photographie (29 March 2021).
Pascal Goffaux, "Welcome to Camp America, Guantánamo Photographié par Debi Cornwall," Exhibition review,
RTBF (24 February 2021).
"La Plus Grand Musée du Monde," Radio interview with MPC Director Xavier Canonne, RTBC
(21 February 2021), at 22:32.
Catherine Businaro, "Immersion au sein de Guantánamo et embiance feutrée au musée de la photo,"
Exhibition review & interview, Télésambre (12 February 2021).
Loring Knaubloch, "Debi Cornwall, Necessary Fictions," Book review, Collector Daily (18 January 2021).
Brad Feuerhelm, Nearest Truth #137, Podcast Interview (18 January 2021).
Mark Murrmann, "At Least One Thing Was Great About 2020: These Photobooks," Mother Jones (28 December 2020).
Donny Bajohr and Jeff Campagna, "The Ten Best Photography Books of 2020," Smithsonian Magazine (12 December 2020).
Matthew Flowers, Catherine Edelman, and Jim Casper, "Favorite Photobooks of 2020," Lensculture
(8 December 2020).
Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy, "Our Favorite Photobooks of 2020," What Will You Remember (3 December 2020).
Kenneth Dickerman, "'Our lives take place in the realm of fantasy, triviality, and materialism, and our senses
and mental capacity become numbed as a result,'" Book review, The Washington Post (2 December, 2020).
Sunil Shah, "Fantasy-Industrial Complex: Debi Cornwall's Necessary Fictions," Book review & interview,
American Suburb X (27 November 2020).
Wayne Swanson, "Debi Cornwall: Necessary Fictions," Book review, Photobook Journal (6 November 2020).
Miss Rosen, "Playing War Games on American Soil, in Photos," Feature Shoot (19 October 2020).
Michael Delgado, "A.G. Geiger Presents: Bookseller's Holiday: National Photographer Appreciation Month,"
LA Weekly (13 October 2020).
Matt Alagiah, "Debi Cornwall explores American power and identity in the post-9/11 era," Interview & Book review,
It's Nice That (8 October 2020).
Michael Delgado, "A.G. Geiger Presents: Tales from the L.A. Underworld #58," Podcast (7 October 2020).
Lou Tsatsas, "'Devrais-je faire plus d'effort pour que cela ne m/affecte pas? Après tout, rient de tout cela
n'est reel,'" Interview, Fisheye Magazine (30 September 2020).
Izabela Radwanzka Zhang, "Debi Cornwall Investigates the Performance of US State Control," Interview & Book review,
British Journal of Photography (30 August 2020).
Gregory McNamee, "Village of the Damned," Book review, Los Angeles Review of Books (28 August 2020).
Francesco Scalici, "Debi Cornwall: Necessary Fictions," Book review, Float Magazine (28 July 2020).
Katherine Oktober Matthews, "The Power of State-Created Reality: An Interview with Debi Cornwall," Riding the Dragon
(20 July 2020).
Elin Spring, "Leica Women Foto Project Winners," Exhibition review, What Will You Remember (12 March 2020).
Lev Feigin, "Inside Guantánamo Bay: A Photographer Documents America's Most Heavily Guarded Prison,"
Book review, Hyperallergic (23 August 2018).
Edith Newhall, "The Creepiness of the Photos Takes a Moment to Sink In," Exhibition review, Philadelphia Inquirer (10 August 2018).
Deborah Krieger, "Photography Exhibition Captures the Incongruous Crush of Guantánamo Bay Prisons,"
Humble Arts Foundation (9 August 2018).
Siddhartha Mitter, "Outside the Wire: Camp America Comes Home," The Intercept (10 June 2018).
Ninah Kopel, Fourth Estate Podcast, Interview, 2SER Radio (Australia) (18 May 2018).
Garry Maddox, "Mugs, shirts and stuffed toys: the gift shop view of Guantánamo," Interview & photo essay,
Sydney Morning Herald (13 May 2018).
Zack Hatfield, "Debi Cornwall's Welcome to Camp America," Exhibition review, The Guardian (25 February 2018).
Wilco Versteeg, "Roaming Without End: A group exhibition in Paris navigates documentary strategies in a directionless world."
(Exhibition review), Aperture Foundation Blog (21 February 2018).
Miss Rosen, "A Surreal Portrait of Life Inside Guantánamo Bay: Camp America," Huck Magazine (17 January 2018).
Mark Murrmann, "Here are 10 of the Most Captivating Photo Books of the Year. Just Look." Mother Jones
(31 December 2017).
Teju Cole, "The Best Photo Books of 2017," New York Times Magazine (30 December 2017).
Tim Clark, "Top 10 Photobooks of 2017," 1000 Words Magazine (UK) (18 December 2017).
Stefan Wagner, "So Oder So ist Guantánamo," Interview & book review, Der Spiegel (15 December 2017).
Loring Knaubloch, "Debi Cornwall: Welcome to Camp America, Inside Guantánamo Bay @Steven Kasher,” Exhibition review,
Collector Daily (30 November 2017).
Ryan P. Smith, “The Ten Best Photography Books of 2017,” Book review, Smithsonian Magazine (28 November 2017).
Fernando Arias, “Guantánamos framtid," Exhibition review, Sweden Radio P1 (13 November 2017).
Nina Strochlic, "Eerie Photos Reveal Life Inside Guantánamo Bay Prison," National Geographic Magazine (8 Nov. 2017).
Donny Bajohr, "These Photographs Capture the Complexities of Life at Guantánamo," Smithsonian Magazine (6 Nov. 2017).
Sarah Cascone, "Editors' Picks, Debi Cornwall: Welcome to Camp America, Inside Guantánamo Bay at Steven Kasher Gallery,"
Artnet News (24 October 2017).
Mark Murrmann, "These Photos Plunge You Into the Inner Madness of Guantánamo," Book review, Mother Jones
(7 October 2017).
Katherine Oktober Mathews, "Welcome to Camp America," Book review, GUP (12 September 2017).
Jim Casper, "Welcome to Camp America," Book review, Lensculture (12 September 2017).
Jordan G. Teicher, "In Guantánamo, Ensared in the War on Terror," Book review, New York Times Lens Blog
(11 September 2017).
Michael Abatemarco, "Empowerment through Art: 'Something Fierce,'" Exhibition review, Santa Fe New Mexican
(4 August 2017).
Melissa Lawford, "Consumerism Goes on Display at the Lianzhou Foto Festival," Exhibition review,
British Journal of Photography (6 December 2016).
"The Best of Photoville, New York City's Largest Photo Exhibition," The Guardian (U.K.) (9 September 2015).
Jenna Garrett, "Inside Gitmo's Surreal Recreation Spots, Tiki Bar and All," Wired Magazine (24 June 2015).
Lindsay Comstock, “The 10 Best Photography Exhibits of Summer 2015,” American Photo Magazine (22 June 2015).
Lewis Bush, "Gitmo on Sale," The British Journal of Photography (12 May 2015).
Romke Hoogwaerts, "Look: Souvenirs from the Guantánamo Bay Gift Shops," New York Times Magazine (1 May 2015).
Marco Werman, "The World," Interview, Public Radio International (PRI.org) (14 October 2014).
David Gonzalez, "Guantánamo's Surreal Prison Landscape," New York Times Lens Blog (14 October 2014).
Selected Artist’s Lectures, Panels & Teaching
Artist Lecture, Victoria & Albert Museum (12 July 2023).
Invited lecturer, Documentary Photography, Amherst College (6 March 2023).
Invited lecturer, Photography and Economics, Pace University (27 February 2023).
ICP, "Necessary Fictions" Workshops (One-year Certificate & Continuing Education Programs, cross-listed in Documentary,
Creative Practices, and New Media Narratives Departments) (March 2020 to present)
Panelist & presenter, “The Real, the Unreal, and the Authentic,” Beyond Magnum, Chapter 3: Toward a Future for
Photography," with Marvin Heiferman, Josué Rivas, and Alexey Yurenev. Moderated by Fred Ritchin. (29 June 2021).
Mentor, Screen Arts School, "Image-based Strategies for Social Change" (Spring 2021)
Artist's Lecture series, ICP Lessons (17-19 February 2021).
Panelist, "Visual Journalism in the Post-Truth Era," Fotodemic (31 July 2020).
Artist Lecture, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (21 May 2020).
"Necessary Fictions": in conversation with Radius cofounder David Chickey, STABLE Arts (5 March 2020).
Artist's lecture, National Geographic Storytellers Summit (Washington, D.C., 16 January 2020).
Invited speaker, Yale Law School; The New School (Documentary Strategies); ICP (Images and Ideas; Image Strategies for Human Rights);
Amherst College; SUNY Binghamton (Human Rights Research); NYU (Methodologies graduate course); Pace (Art as a Vehicle for Social Change); SVA (Book Design); American University of Kuwait (Art & Graphic Design), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Institute for Film, Theater, Media and Cultural Studies, Germany), Arizona State University (Art Dept.) (2018-2023).
Artist's Lecture, les Rencontres de la Photographie en Gaspésie (in French), (Percé, Canada, 18 August 2018).
Panelist, "ICP Lab: Blue Skies and Bad Dreams," ICP Museum (New York, NY, 22 April 2018).
Aperture PhotoBook Spotlight talk with Lesley A. Martin and David Chickey, AIPAD (New York, NY, 5 April 2018).
Artist's Lecture, Columbia School of Journalism (New York, NY, 27 March 2018).
Creative Conversation with James Estrin, New York Times Lens editor, Fotofest Biennial (Houston, TX, 16 March 2018).
Conversation between Debi Cornwall, Aglaia Konrad, Paola Yakoub, and curator Diane Dufour on work in the group show,
En Suspens (In Between). Le BAL (Paris, France, 10 February 2018).
Artist’s Lecture, Photography in the Age of Global Surveillance and Perpetual Wars, Columbia University Global Centers (Paris, France,
13 November 2017).
Symposium Panelist, What Does it Mean to Make Art at Guantánamo?, John Jay College, CUNY (New York, NY,
16 October 2017).
Panelist, Bending the Frame: Where do we go from here? Moderated by Fred Ritchin, NYU Tisch School of the Arts,
(New York, NY, 5 October 2017).
Panelist, "Photobooks: Protest and Resistance," Contemporary Artists' Book Conference, New York Art Book Fair,
MoMA PS1 (Queens, NY, 22 September 2017).
Symposium Panelist, Guantánamo Going Forward: What's Next for Current and Former Detainees?, Brown University
(Providence, RI, 15 September 2017).
Artist’s Lecture & discussion with curator Sujong Song, BMW Photo Space of GoEun Museum (Busan, S. Korea, 30 June 2017).
Artist’s Lecture, School for Visual Arts (SVA) (New York, NY, 25 April 2017).
Presenter, “Welcome to Camp America: Toward a New Documentary Form," Open Engagement (Chicago, IL, 22 April 2017).
Panelist, Saying War, Building Peace, Palais des Nations, United Nations (Geneva, Switzerland, 14 March 2017).
Artist's Lecture, Reiss-Engelhorn Museums, ZEPHYR raum für fotographie (Mannheim, Germany, 24 May 2016).
Panelist, Securing Support for Your Long-Term Projects, with Mary Virginia Swanson and Jamey Stillings, Fotofest
(Houston, TX, 16 March 2016).
Panelist, Influencing Policy and Social Change through Photography, with Stephanie Sinclair and Brooke Singer, Photoville
(Brooklyn, NY, 12 September 2015).
Artist's Lecture, Doomed Gallery (London, UK) /Alternative Processes Collective (7 April 2015).
Panelist, Art, Film and Guantánamo: a Special Freedom Flicks Event, with Molly Crabapple and Omar Farah,
Brooklyn Public Library (14 January 2015).
Selected Collections
Bibliotèque National de France
Charles Dee Mitchell Collection on Violence in the 21st Century
Duke University Archive of Documentary Arts, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Joaquim Paiva Collection/MAM Rio de Janeiro
Harvard Art Museums
Lannan Foundation
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas J. Watson Library
Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi (Belgium)
Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Yossi Milo collection
Experience
2020-present International Center of Photography (ICP), Adjunct Faculty
2001-13 Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP, Civil-Rights Attorney (Partner 2006-13)
2000-01 Honorable Robert W. Sweet, U.S. District Court (S.D.N.Y.), Law Clerk
1995-97 Federal Defender Division/Legal Aid Society (S.D.N.Y.), Investigator/Trial Assistant
1994-95 Associated Press (Providence, RI), Photographer (Stringer)
Education
2000 Harvard Law School, J.D.
1995 Brown University, B.A., magna cum laude, Honors in Modern Culture & Media
1992-95 Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), photography classes
Contact
Debi Cornwall
Brooklyn, NY, US
debi@debicornwall.com
www.debicornwall.com
+1.917.627.0941