Peter Menzel
Peter Menzel is an accomplished author, photographer, and film maker who has published groundbreaking works on the human condition, from documenting how people around the world eat, to how they live and how they view their societies. Born in Munich, Germany in 1947, Menzel moved to the United States in 1968 where he studied physics at the University of California, Berkeley and exhibited his photography in local galleries. After graduation, Menzel left the US to travel the world, shooting over 40 countries in his home-made "camera bus" - a converted 1972 Volkswagen camper.
The first of Menzel’s published books, Material World: A Global Family Portrait (1994), photographs human families with all their possessions displayed in front of their homes in 44 countries. The book was an exhibiting sensation and a New York Times bestseller. It continues to be one of Menzel’s best known and iconic books. Through his lens, Menzel exposes how each culture's conceptions of wealth, family, and happiness differ. Furthermore, the book pays homage to the inter-dependent relationship between humans and material things.
Menzel’s second book, Hungry Planet: What the World Eats (2005). This book features 30 families in 24 countries and displays their weekly food purchases laid out across the table. The photos portray nutritional differences around the world and demonstrate a global understanding of food access, poverty, and cultural norms. Menzel has travelled to more than 100 countries and has photographed areas of the globe where food is scarce, fertility is non-existent and violence flourishes. His photographs capture how people’s lives are shaped by what they can afford to eat; how some cultures rely heavily on fishery as their main course of food and how poverty forces others to rely on industrial processed foods.
Menzel has also had a successful career as a documentary filmmaker and has produced such films as Growing up with the Cheneys, based on an eight-hour interview with future Vice President Dick Cheney and his family, and Ramadan at Tarawi, about how families in California celebrate Ramadan. His film projects often focus on ordinary people ‘living extraordinary lives’.
Menzel’s work is not only fascinating but inspiring. It reveals a deep understanding of the human spirit, its wonders and tragedies. Throughout his books and projects, Menzel brings to life stories of people living in alien cultures and circumstances, allowing us to open our minds and hearts to people we may never have a chance to meet in person. Menzel’s work confronts the logical but often emotionally jarring questions of privilege and inequality, presenting the possibility that there exists a truer measure of true wealth, and that while one person’s station in life may be judged as privileged, in fact, we all thrive and benefit from shared access to global resources.
Menzel has received numerous awards, and is a three-time winner of the American Society of Magazine Photographers Magazine Photographer of the Year award and a two-time National Magazine Award winner. In addition, he was double nominated for a National Book Award for his two best-selling books. He is a graduate of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught photography and visual anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Menzel’s insights, analytical eye and creativity continue to transport readers and viewers around the globe, giving us a deeper look into the lives of people living in today's world.
