Tony Russell (b. 1938, Kingston, Jamaica) created an exceptional visual record of Jamaica in the post-independence and Cold War years, and later of Venezuela’s Andean region. Working across politics, music, tourism, sport, labour, popular culture and daily life, his photographs document both the forces shaping contemporary history and the worlds through which he moved. His archive, now being revisited in Portugal, comprises around 50,000 photographs.
1938
Born in Kingston, Jamaica
Trained in photography and film through the Famous Photographers School, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Center of the Eye, Aspen
1969–1973
Chief Photographer, Department of Public Relations, Jamaica Tourist Board
1975–1977
Chief Technical Officer (Photography), Institute of Jamaica
1973–1975
Held a Library Affiliation with Magnum Photos, New York, and was a general member of the ASMP
1979–1981
Staff Photographer, Museum of Popular Art “Salvador Valero”, Universidad de Los Andes, Trujillo, Venezuela
Worked throughout the 1980s and 1990s as a documentary photographer on major cultural, social and research projects in Venezuela, including commissions for the National Library of Venezuela, CRIHES, Fundacultura and the Zumaque Foundation
Exhibited in Jamaica, Venezuela, Spain and Cuba, including The Camera As Witness (Kingston, 1973) and participation in the 1st Havana Biennial (1984)
His work is held in collections including the Institute of Jamaica, the National Portrait Gallery (UK), the National Library of Venezuela, Fundación Polar, and the Universidad de Los Andes