Alexandra Boulat (1962-2007)

Photo: Alexandra Boulat © Time Magazine

Very sad news. The folks at State of the Art and at AP report that Alexandra Boulat died yesterday in Paris at age 45. The obiturary in The New York Times is here. Boulat had been in a medically induced coma since June in an attempt to help her recover from a brain aneurysm. Boulat was, it is safe to say, a terrific, insightful, courageous photographer. I posted about her condition earlier and mentioned there the reasons why her malady hit especially close to home. I've lifted the photograph here from this photoessay on Afghani refugees in Western Pakistan that Boulat had contributed to Time several years ago. You can find a 2006 photoessay ~ "Capturing Gaza's Hell" ~ that Boulat did for Time here. In her narration, Boulat laments the impotence and redundancy of photographs of the travials of the Palestinians. She responds to this by focusing on the mundane, minutia in hopes of approaching Palestinian suffering obliquely. Her work is powerful. My thoughts go to her family and loved ones.