Nadav Kander facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Nadav Kander HonFRPS
Philip Dodd 'In Conversation' with Nadav Kander, Flowers Gallery, London 2010
Born	1961 (age 63–64) Tel Aviv (Israel)
Known for	Photography, Artist, Director

Nadav Kander (born in 1961) is a famous photographer, artist, and director. He lives in London, England. He is well-known for taking amazing pictures of people (portraits) and beautiful outdoor scenes (landscapes). Nadav Kander has created many photo books. His work has been shown in art galleries and museums all over the world. He received a special award called an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society in 2015. He also won the important Prix Pictet award for his photography.

Life and Work

Nadav Kander was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. His father used to fly large airplanes for El-Al, an airline. But after an accident, his father lost an eye and could not fly anymore. Because of this, his family decided to move to South Africa in 1963. They settled in Johannesburg.

Starting Photography

Nadav started taking pictures when he was 13 years old. He bought his first camera, a Pentax, with money he received for his Bar Mitzvah. He says that the photos he took back then, even though he was still learning, had a similar quiet and slightly uneasy feeling that his work has today.

After school, he joined the South African Air Force. He worked in a darkroom, which is a special room where photos are developed. In the darkroom, he printed aerial photographs, which are pictures taken from an aircraft. This experience made him sure that he wanted to be a professional photographer. In 1986, he moved to London, where he still lives with his wife Nicole and their three children.

Famous Photo Series

Nadav Kander is very famous for his photo series called Yangtze - The Long River. He won the Prix Pictet Prize for this work. For this project, Kander took pictures only within twenty miles of the Yangtze River in China.

In these photos, you can see workers, fishermen, swimmers, and even a person washing a motorbike in the river. The pictures show huge buildings and bridges that are still being built. These massive structures make the people in the photos look very small. Traditional Chinese homes are quickly being replaced by huge, modern apartment buildings. As you go further up the river towards its source in Tibet, the landscape changes. The dense buildings disappear, and you see mountains and sparsely populated areas. Here, the river is often just broken ice and very shallow.

From 2010 to 2012, Kander photographed a series called Bodies. 6 Women. 1 Man. He took these pictures in his studio in London.

Special Projects

On January 18, 2009, Nadav Kander had 52 full-color portraits published in one issue of The New York Times Magazine. These portraits were of the people who worked closely with the US President Barack Obama. This included important figures like Joe Biden, who was the Vice President, and other special assistants. This was the largest collection of photos by one photographer ever shown in a single issue of The New York Times Magazine.

In July 2012, Kander's work was shown at the National Portrait Gallery, London. This exhibition featured a series of portraits that celebrated London hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2014, Kander was one of 18 photographers chosen for an exhibition called Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age. This show was at the Barbican Centre in London and then traveled to other places. It explored how architectural photography can show us deeper truths about our society.

His photographs for the 2016 TIME Person of the Year magazine cover were highly praised and discussed. Nadav Kander is also a Trustee at The Lowry, an arts center in Salford, UK.

Exhibitions

• 2001: Beauty's Nothing, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
• 2005: Keep Your Distance, Palais de Tokyo Paris
• 2005: Obama's People, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England
• 2010: Obama's People - Nadav Kander / The Family - Richard Avedon, The Kennedys (museum) Berlin, Germany
• 2010: Prix Pictet Laureates, Musée de l'Élysée Lausanne, Switzerland
• 2011: Selected Portraits 1999-2011, The Lowry, Manchester, UK
• 2011: Infinite Balance: Artists and the Environment, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
• 2011: Body Gestures, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel
• 2011: Yangtze – The Long River, Forum Fur Fotografie, Cologne, Germany
• 2012: Road to 2012, National Portrait Gallery, London
• 2013: Landmark: Fields of Photography, Somerset House, London
• 2014: Yangtze - The Long River, Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI
• 2014: Dust, Rencontres d'Arles festival, Arles, France
• 2014–2015: Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age
  • Barbican Centre, London, 2014
  • The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design, Stockholm, 2015
  • Museo ICO, Madrid, 2015
• 2015: Grace of Intention: Photography, Architecture and the Monument, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
• 2016: Prix Pictet Laureates, Mouravieff-Apostol House & Museum, Moscow, 2014
• 2017: Britain In Focus: A Photographic History, National Media Museum, Bradford, UK
• 2017: Proof of Life / Lebenszeichen Weserburg, Weserburg Museum, Germany
• 2017: Looking Good: The Male Gaze From Van Dyck to Lucian Freud, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
• 2018: Powerful Tides: 400 years of Chatham and the sea, Historical Dockyard, London

Awards

• 2002: Terence Donovan Award, Royal Photographic Society, Bath
• 2008: Silver Photographer of the Year, Lianzhou International Photo Festival, China
• 2009: Winner, Prix Pictet 'Earth' 2009 for Yangtze - The Long River
• 2009: International Photographer of the Year, 7th Annual Lucie Awards
• 2011: Photography category, London Awards for Art and Performance, London
• 2013: 1st Prize, Staged Portraits Singles, World Press Photo, Amsterdam
• 2015: Honorary Fellowship, Royal Photographic Society, Bath
• 2019: Outstanding Contribution to Photography, Sony World Photography Awards, London