Panos Pictures is contributing 1,511 additional photographs of contemporary global issues to the Artstor Digital Library, increasing our holdings from their archive to more than 33,000 images. Recent materials document some of the most significant events and forces of the last decade: the refugee crisis as it plays out in camps in Greece, Kurdistan, and Myanmar; the effects of Ebola; and the worldwide implications of climate change and drought.
Panos Pictures was founded as a photo agency in 1986 by the current director Adrian Evans (it was originally linked to Panos London, an organization that promoted the freedom of the media and proliferation of information and debate in developing countries). In 2011, the 25th anniversary of the agency, Evans expressed its ethic: “We believe in the photography of ideas. Not content with merely witnessing, Panos photographers seek out stories that matter with the aim of interpreting rather than simply recording. We are not afraid to take a position on current events or contemporary issues and offer perspectives that challenge commonly held assumptions.” The name Panos, a classical Greek term meaning beacon, defines the mission. For more than three decades Panos Pictures has worked with the commercial and nonprofit sectors, to campaign and to communicate with new and diverse audiences through a range of media including exhibitions, multimedia, books and video, and long-term documentary projects. (more…)