Portraits of Influential Women

Annie Leibovitz started making a list of women who have achieved greatness. Then the master photographic portrait artist started photographing these women, and incorporating the issues they address into her photographs. She photographed the Mexican human rights lawyer Andréa Medina Rosas, who was the first person to win a case for women murdered along the border between the US and Mexico, and Laura Poitras – a revolutionary documentary film producer known for her unmatched perspective on the ‘surveillance state’. 

New Portraits of Women

‘WOMEN: New Portraits’ is a continuation of the popular ‘Women’ series that Leibovitz started in 1999. The new collection was created to convey an even more powerful message than the first by using well known women who are making a positive impact around the world. Each portrait delves into the woman’s story and the work that has made her influential. She captures Misty Copeland, the pioneering African American ballet dancer, perfectly poised on her ballet shoes, and writer and feminist icon Gloria Steinem at her desk. Pakistani education activist and feminist Malala Yousafzai is photographed in a classroom, and technology executive and activist Sheryl Sandberg is appropriately presented in a boardroom. Hillary Clinton is poignantly posed at her desk with a paperweight that reads, ‘Never, never, never give up’ in the frame.

Women for Women

The collection has been showcased in a global tour throughout 2016 with exhibitions taking place in ten cities in Europe, America and Asia. Leibovitz also arranged a series of talking circles in collaboration with Gloria Steinem which have accompanied the exhibitions. The circles, called ‘Women for Women’ were co-hosted by Leibovitz and Steinem. Their goal has been to empower participants to air their views, thoughts and grievances, and to share their stories about women’s rights issues around the world.