Larry Towell: The Mennonites. The photo book by the 1996 LOBA winner now appears in a new extended edition

Even 30 years after it was taken, this series by the Canadian Magnum photographer remains a true find! In the nineties, Towell spent ten years accompanying 23 Mennonite communities. The project earned him the Leica Oskar Barnack Award in 1996, and four years later, he published a photo book. This important volume subsequently went out of print; but it has now been republished in a revised and updated edition. In addition to many of the photographer’s texts and memories, the book also includes 40 previously unpublished motifs.

Towell’s sensitive, detailed and evocative black and white pictures offer deep insight into the life of the Mennonites. Their origins are found in 16th century Holland; and, to this day, they remain nonconformists who have traditionally set themselves apart from the world, living in settlements or colonies cut off from society. The photographer’s project focuses on the Old Colony Mennonites, who struggle constantly against modernity, which tries to change and absorb them. Rather than give up their lifestyle, they have been forced to migrate around the world, time and again, so as to maintain the freedom to live in the way they want.

Towell met the Mennonites for the first time close to his home in Ontario, Canada. The friendship that ensued allowed him unique access to their community. “In 1989, I discovered them in my own back yard, land-hungry and dirt poor. They came looking for work in the vegetable fields and fruit orchards of Lambton, Essex, Kent and Haldimand-Norfolk Counties. I liked them a lot, because they seemed otherworldly and, therefore, completely vulnerable in a society in which they did not belong, and for which they were not prepared. Because I liked them, they liked me; and although photography was forbidden, they let me photograph them. That’s all there was to it,” the photographer remembers.

At the time, the Mennonite community was in a process of change, Towell recalls: “The first time I went to Mexico, all of the communities I visited were traditional, which meant there was no electricity and no vehicles, apart from tractors with steel wheels. By the time I was done, they had nearly all adapted to some degree. The evolution occurred, in part, because the Mennonites who came to Canada had to adapt to life there; and, when they returned, they brought modernity back with them.” Consequently, Towell’s images also serve to document a community pulled back and forth, between the adherence to Biblical convictions and the need to change in order to survive.

The outcome of this friendship is a unique and sensitive portrait of an often misunderstood and marginalised society. Over many miles and seasons, Towell’s writings depict the experiences of the people he encountered; the harsh pressures of nature, the economy and society; and the struggle to keep the urge for change at bay.

When first published in 2000, the pictures already revealed a complete alienation from the modern-day world. This new edition, including images unpublished to date, remains just as poignant and gripping. Towell’s wonderful imagery offers insight into a world otherwise closed to the viewer.