Ron Haviv

Biography

Ron Haviv was an accomplished student and graduate of Northern Valley Demarest High School in 1983, and later went on to graduate from New York University. Since the end of the Cold War he has covered conflict and other humanitarian crises worldwide. Haviv is known for his broad documentation of the Yugoslav Wars: the battle of Vukovar in Croatia, the Siege of Sarajevo, the atrocities committed at Serb concentration camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the practice of ethnic cleansing as exhibited by Arkan's Tigers.

He has also photographed the city of Juárez, a battleground of the Mexican Drug War where civilian, law enforcement and cartel member casualties occur daily. Additionally, Haviv is noted for his coverage of the destruction of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, as well as the subsequent Cholera epidemic, and celebrity support and involvement in its reconstruction. Haviv's photography also sheds light on malnutrition in Bangladesh, clashes between Los Angeles gangs and police forces, the 2009 Afghan presidential elections, the Sri Lankan Civil War, the struggle for children in Darfur, among many other situations of conflict.

Haviv’s images have been distributed widely by various publications including Business Week, Fortune, Le Monde, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Paris Match, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time, and US News & World Report, among others worldwide. Additionally, numerous museums and galleries have featured his work, including the Louvre, the United Nations, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Haviv has spoken about his work on ABC World News, BBC, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America and The Charlie Rose Show.

Haviv’s photography has been collected and published in the critically acclaimed books: Blood and Honey: A Balkan War Journal, Afghanistan: On the Road to Kabul, and Haiti: 12 January 2010. He is one of seven co-founders of VII Photo Agency, formed in 2001, along with Alexandra Boulat, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey and John Stanmeyer. Haviv has channeled his focus on raising awareness for human rights violations by helping to create multi-platform projects for NGO’s, such as Doctors Without Borders’ DR Congo missions: The Forgotten War and Starved for Attention, UNICEF’s Child Alert for Darfur and Sri Lanka, and the International Committee of the Red Cross’ World at War.

Controversy In 2012 Haviv caused controversy in the photojournalism community[6] when it was revealed an image from his book 'Afghanistan: On the Road to Kabul', which was also published on The Digital Journalist website,[7] had been licensed to the arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin to advertise its small diameter bombs.[8] According to figures in the Guardian in 2010 Lockheed Martin were the biggest seller of arms in the world, with sales exceeding $35 billion. They are the biggest supplier of arms to Israel. Their tanks, missiles and fighter planes were used in Israel’s 2008-09 assault on Gaza, in which in excess of 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis (including 10 soldiers) were killed. Their weapons are also used extensively by the US army. Haviv responded to the controversy with a statement in which he testually says: "I draw a strict line between my photojournalism and commercial campaigns and feature examples of both on my website, where they are clearly labeled for what they are [9]. Haviv also claimed that his photo agency 'VII is not associated in any way with the images in question'

Publications

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions