... Towell’s work showed me that things didn’t need to be presented in neat, linear packages; you could breach the foundational tropes being taught in journalism school. And that made for much more intimate, feeling work that functioned alongside the great longform writing I had also begun to absorb.
I don’t really know how I found it (there wasn’t really a vibrant internet community back then), but I bought “The Mennonites” that year. It’s a book of lyrical and immersive black-and-white photos exploring the world of the Old Colony Mennonites. This was no quick hit wide-shot, tight-shot package like you might produce for a newspaper story. No, Towell threw himself into the lives of the people he was photographing. He spent nearly 10 years doing it! It was an enthralling read then, and continues to be today.
Text by Kenneth Dickerman from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/08/17/larry-towells-iconic-mennonites-is-back-expanded-edition/
