Quote I fell in love with the process of taking pictures, with wandering around finding things. To me it feels like a kind of performance. The picture is a document of that performance.
Alec Soth joined Magnum Photos as a Nominee in 2004 and became an Associate in 2006.

Alec Soth
American, b. 1969

Alec Soth became a nominee of Magnum Photos in 2004 and an associate in 2006. He is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Soth uses an 8 x 10 camera from the late 1980s that makes almost painting-like pictures. He follows the complicated process of using the large-format camera, and says he is lucky if he manages to make one or two exposures on a given day of shooting.

He has received fellowships from the McKnight and Jerome Foundations and was the recipient of the 2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography. His photographs are represented in major public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Walker Art Center. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney Biennal and S?o Paulo Bienal.

His first book, Sleeping by the Mississippi, was published in 2004, and his second, Niagara, in 2006. He is represented by the Gagosian Gallery in New York and the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis.

Education

1992 Bachelor of Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, USA

Awards

2006 Deutsche B?rse Prize (shortlisted artist)
2004 McKnight Photography Fellowship
2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography
2001 Minnesota State Arts Board
2001 MCAD / Jerome Fellowship
2001 Jerome Travel and Study Grant
1999 McKnight Photography Fellowship

Exhibitions

2006 Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
2006 Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, USA
2005 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA
2004 Open Eye, Liverpool, UK
2004 Wohnmaschine, Berlin, Germany
2004 Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis, USA
2004 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2004 Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, USA
2003 Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
2003 Weitman Gallery of Photography, Washington University, St. Louis, USA

Collections

Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA
Israel Museum of Contemporary Art, Jerusalem, Israel
LA County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, USA
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA

Books

2006 Niagara, Steidl, Germany
2005 The Making of Parts, photo essay Granta, issue 89
2004 Sleeping by the Mississippi, Steidl, Germany
2002 Vantage Points: Campus as Place (with Beth Dow and Chris Faust),Carleton College
Press, Northfield, USA
1997 Linked to the Future: Minneapolis and St. Paul, (6 b/w plates), Towery Publishing, USA