WESTPORT–It’s easy for Westporters to find photos taken by Pulitzer-prize-winning war photographer Lynsey Addario, who grew up in the town. They’re in the Westport Public Library, the public schools and municipal buildings. Her books are also on the library’s shelves.

Now town – and the world – is about to get an up-close look at the dangers she faces to get those shots when National Geographic posts a documentary about her, “Love + War.” It can be streamed on National Geographic starting Nov. 6 and on Disney+ starting the following day.

A balancing act

The documentary captures Addario’s rise in the male-dominated field of conflict photography, the perils she faces, and her struggles in balancing her commitment to photojournalism with her family life as a wife and mother of two children.

“I have to constantly weigh, ‘What will I risk my life for?’” she says in the trailer to the movie, which was directed by Oscar-winning documentarians Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.

Pulitzer winner

Addario’s work has taken her around the world, to places that include Iraq, Mexico, Pakistan and Afghanistan. She was part of a team of New York Times photographers who won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for its coverage of the war in Afghanistan. In 2023, she was a finalist for another Pulitzer, this time for a single shot of a mother, her two children and a church worker who were killed by a blast in Kiev.

In 2015, she spoke to the Westport community about her role as a photojournalist when she was the year’s honoree at the Westport Public Library’s BOOKED for the evening event, the library’s signature fundraising evening.

Respect

“I was taught to never be judgmental and to respect people for who they are,” she told the audience then. “And for me it was so empowering, and it was such a big part of me becoming a journalist. Because I think that people don’t understand that, as a journalist, one of the main qualities you need is to be non-judgmental and to respect people for who they are.”

Anyone unfamiliar with Addario’s work can view it at the Westport Public Library. Some of her works are permanently on display there, and, with fortuitous timing, the library debuts an exhibition today called “Every Picture Tells a Story,” which includes photos by Addario and others. The show runs through December 15.

Accessible

Anne Boberski, co-chair of Westport Public Art Collections (WestPAC), said the organization’s photos, including Addario’s works, are continuously displayed throughout Westport’s public schools and municipal buildings, accessible to students, residents and visitors.

“Lynsey Addario’s photographs bear powerful witness to the human costs of conflict and humanitarian crises,” Boberski said. “WestPAC is grateful to the artist for her numerous gifts of photographs documenting Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, and India over the past 25 years.”

Westport: community of talent

Addario lived in Westport until she went to college at 17 years old. In 1995, she graduated with honors and distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in international relations and Italian. In 1993-1994, she studied economics and political science at the University of Bologna in Italy. 

She has published two books: her 2015 memoir, “It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War;” and the 2018 photo collection “Of Love and War.” Both are in the Westport Public Library’s collection.

When she was honored by the library in 2015, Addario noted that she was in good company in her hometown.

“Westport has always been a great, rich community of talent and artists and people from all backgrounds,” she said, “so it’s really great to be here.”