Lyon is a journalist, but not by the usual ’90s definition. Whether he was photographing the Civil Rights Movement in the American South in the ’60s or the guerrilla uprising in Mexico in the ’90s, his journalism is not about the surface, the sensational, the soundbite; it is imbued with his respect for the people he photographs, and with the commitment and responsibility this respect entails. Now, in his collages, Lyon has come up with an emotional kind of journalism exploring classes and cultures and the options that people are allowed. Claiming the same credibility for his personal images as for his more conventional documentary pictures, he has made some of his most political and most moving work to date.
