Platon

Platon is one of world’s most renowned portrait photographers, having photographed more world leaders than anyone else in history, including six American presidents. Shooting portraits for a range of international publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Times magazine, Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ and The Sunday Times magazine, Platon developed a special relationship with TIME magazine, producing over 25 covers for them. In 2008, he photographed Russian Premier Vladimir Putin for TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year” cover. This image was awarded 1st prize at the World Press Photo Contest. Most recently, Platon photograph Donald Trump in 2024 for TIME’s “Person of The Year” cover.

In 2008, he signed a multi-year contract with The New Yorker. As the staff photographer, he has produced several large-scale photo essays, two of which won ASME Awards in 2009 and 2010. Platon’s New Yorker portfolios have focused on themes including the U.S Military, portraits of world leaders and the Civil Rights Movement.

In 2009, Platon teamed up with Human Rights Watch to help them celebrate those who fight for equality and justice in countries suppressed by political forces. These projects have highlighted human rights defenders from Burma as well as the leaders of the Egyptian revolution. Following his coverage of Burma, Platon photographed Aung San Suu Kyi for the cover of TIME—days after her release from house arrest. In 2011, Platon was honored with a Peabody Award for collaboration on the topic of Russia’s Civil Society with The New Yorker magazine and Human Rights Watch.

In 2013, Platon founded The People’s Portfolio, a non-profit foundation dedicated to celebrating emergingleaders of human rights and civil rights around the world. The People’s Portfolio creates a visual language that breaks barriers, uplifts dignity, fights discrimination, and enlists the public to support human rights around the world.

Platon has published five books of his work: Platon’s Republic (Phaidon Press, 2004), a retrospective of his early work; Power (Chronicle, 2011), 100 portraits of the world’s most powerful leaders; China: Through the Looking Glass (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015), in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Service (Prestel, 2016), dedicated to the men and women in the United States Military, their physical and psychological wounds, their extraordinary valor, and the fierce emotions that surround those who serve; The Defenders (Matsumoto, 2024), was made in collaboration with The People’s Portfolio and celebrates human rights activists from around the world.

Platon’s life’s work is the subject of a Netflix documentary, Abstract: The Art of Design. Platon’s first film, My Body Is Not A Weapon, features survivors of wartime sexual violence and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege. Platon’s second film, Portrait of a Stranger, was made in partnership with the United Nations, honoring the voices of refugees from around the world.

Platon is a communicator and storyteller. He has been invited to be a keynote speaker on leadership at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chanel, Nike, Yale University, Oxford University, Wharton University, the National Portrait Gallery in London and International Center of Photography in New York. He has also appeared on a range of television media including Charlie Rose (PBS), Morning Joe (MSNBC), Fareed Zakaria’s GPS (CNN) and the BBC World News.

Platon’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums both domestically and abroad. He has exhibited in New York at the Matthew Marks Gallery and the Howard Greenberg Gallery, as well as internationally at the Colette Gallery in Paris, France. The New York Historical Society has exhibited a solo show of Platon’s Civil Rights photographs, which remain as part of the museum’s permanent collection. Other permanent collections holding Platon’s photography include The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Tampa, Florida and The Westlicht Museum for Photography in Vienna, Austria and the Scotland National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. In 2020, Platon’s archive of prominent African American civil rights leaders and cultural leaders was acquired by the Smithsonian.