Annie Leibovitz: “Women”

BY: PROVOKR Staff

In 1999, Annie Leibovitz, the legendary celebrity photographer, together with the late Susan Sontag, Leibovitz’s partner of 15 years, published the book Women, an exhilarating collection of portraits of female leaders in various spheres—politics, sports, business and culture. Now, 17 years later, the Swiss bank UBS has commissioned Leibovitz to revive and relaunch the project, and this time she has invited feminist icon Gloria Steinem to be her collaborator. Instead of producing another book, Leibovitz organized the work into a photographic exhibit, “WOMEN: New Portraits,” and, instead of having museums and galleries curate the show and hang it on their walls, Leibovitz is presenting it in a looser, more spontaneous way in historically relevant pop-up sites (in 10 cities around the world), where audiences will be invited to join her and Steinem in live talks. Through December 11, “WOMEN: New Portraits” is on view in New York at the gymnasium of the Bayview Correctional Facility, a former women’s prison on West 20th Street and 11th Avenue, which was closed due to the damage done by Hurricane Sandy. Once Leibovitz’s show is gone, the Art Deco structure will be renovated into the Women’s Building, a facility for women’s groups and services scheduled for completion in 2020. As for Leibovitz’s project, it continues indefinitely. “Susan herself said this was always a work in progress,” Leibovitz told the New York Times last month. “Women are a work in progress. To my dying day, I’ll be doing these photographs.”