EN FOCO: Artist Talk October 18

Patagonia Cowboy Series, En Foco First Place Award
Photograph (c) Mustafah Abdulaziz/All rights reserved

Patagonia Cowboy Series, En Foco First Place Award
Photograph (c) Mustafah Abdulaziz/All rights reserved

Patagonia Cowboy Series

Photograph (c) Mustafah Abdulaziz/All rights reserved

EN FOCO AND THE LUCIE FOUNDATION ARTIST TALK
October 18, 2009 from 5:30-7:30 PM
Splashlight Studio, 75 Varick Street, NYC 10013

Artist Talk includes: MUSTAFAH ABDULAZIZ - Winner of En Foco's People/Places/Things Photography Competition, featured in an upcoming Nueva Luz Photographic Journal. SUE FLOOD - Finalist for the International Photography Awards (IPA) "International Photographer of the Year". IPA is a sister effort of the Lucie Foundation. RANIA MATAR - Published in Nueva Luz volume 13#3 this past Spring, she is also celebrating the publication of her monograph, "Ordinary Lives". RACHEL PAPO - Finalist for the International Photography Awards (IPA) "Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year". RSVP: jointtalk@luciefoundation.org

Ross Sea Adventure Series
Photograph (c) Sue Flood/All rights reserved

Serial No. 3817131 Series
Photograph (c) Rachel Papo/All rights reserved

The Forgotten People Series
Photograph (c) Rania Matar/All rights reserved

En Foco is a non-profit organization that uses the photographic arts as a vehicle to address cultural and social inequities. It provides professional recognition, publication, honoraria and assistance to photographers of diverse cultures as they grow into different stages of their careers. En Foco nurtures and supports contemporary fine art and documentary photographers of diverse cultures, primarily U.S. residents of Latino, African and Asian heritage, and Native Peoples of the Americas and the Pacific. En Foco produces the Nueva Luz Photographic Journal, Print Collectors Program.

MOVING WALLS 16: OSI Exhibit

Zalmaï's The Human Cost of the War On Terror in Afghanistan

Chinafrica photographs of Paolo Woods in Moving Walls 16 exhibit

Chinafrica photographs of Paolo Woods

MOVING WALLS 16 includes the work of six photographers - Benjamin Lowy Iraq/Perspectives, Eugene Richards War Is Personal, Stefano De Luigi Liberia's Child Soldiers: Recovering Innocence, Tomas van Houtryve Nepal: A "People's War" Topples the God King, Paolo Woods Chinafrica and Zalmaï Promises and Lies:The Human Cost of the War On Terror in Afghanistan - who cover a range of social justice and human rights issues of significance to the Open Society Institute. These photographs were selected by a 16 person committee that included Susan Meiselas and Stuart Alexander as curator's of the exhibition. September 30, 2009-May 21, 2010. Open Society Institute, 400 West 59th St, NYC. This exhibition will travel to Washington, D.C. in the future. On-line Exhibition.

ALESSANDRA MENICONZI: Sacred Stones

EASTERN TIBET - SICHUAN PROVINCE (click enlarge)
Copyright (c) Alessandra Meniconzi /All Rights Reserved

CHINA - INNER MONGOLIA - GOBI DESERT
Copyright (c) Alessandra Meniconzi /All Rights Reserved

INDIAN HIMALAYA - ZANSKAR VALLEY
Copyright (c) Alessandra Meniconzi /All Rights Reserved

EASTERN TIBET - SICHUAN PROVINCE
Copyright (c) Alessandra Meniconzi /All Rights Reserved

EASTERN TIBET - SICHUAN PROVINCE
Copyright (c) Alessandra Meniconzi /All Rights Reserved

CHINA - GUIZHOU PROVINGE - HMONG MINORITY
(The Long-horn Miao-a small branch living near Zhijin County)
Copyright (c) Alessandra Meniconzi /All Rights Reserved

"I prefer remote and rugged places, mountainous terrain and desert. I love to find people who can manage to survive in these places, to discover and record their ancient way of life before they are changed by the modern era."

ALESSANDRA MENICONZI is an adventurous Swiss photographer shooting in remote regions of the world. A trip to India at 21 sparked over a decade of exploration of cultures on the ancient trade routes. Her books include Hidden China, Mystic Iceland, The Silk Road, and she is currently working on books about the Tibet, Himalaya, and the Arctic.

Alessandra Meniconzi Gallery
Arctic Trek Greenland I Greenland II Greenland III
Mani Stone Inscriptions
The Long-horned Miao Headress
Canon Interview

100 EYES MAGAZINE

from Living Stone, Dying River/100 Eyes Magazine
Photograph (c) Khaled Hasan/All rights reserved

from Children of the Black Dust/100 Eyes Magazine
Photograph (c) Shehzad Noorani/All rights reserved

from The Stone Throwers/100 Eyes Magazine
Photograph (c) Tanvir Ahmed/All rights reserved

“Pathshala is far more than teaching photography. Pathshala is about using the language of images to bring about social change.”

ANDY LEVIN is a photographer living in New Orleans, Louisiana and a former contributing photographer at Life Magazine and Black Star. In 2007 Levin was a finalist for the Eugene Smith Grant for Documentary Photography. 100 Eyes Magazine is edited, written, (beautifully) designed and programmed by Levin.

SHAHIDUL ALAM founded the Drik Picture Library in 1989 in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Pathshala, the South Asian Institute of Photography, taking advantage of a World Press Photo initiative. Most of the photographers showing work in this issue of 100Eyes went to Pathshala or taught there.

From Andy Levin's Introduction: "Alam and his fellow teachers, along with the World Press folks including Robert Pledge of Contact Press, have done a fantastic job. The students are exposed to classic photojournalism, poring over old issues of Life and National Geographic. Having spent hours going through the Drik archives I can testify to the training of the photographers– they always look for the single image that tells the whole story."

You can view the entire issue of Bangladesh x Bangladesh HERE

Andy Levin Website
Drik NEWS Photo Agency
Pathshala Institue of Photography
Shahidul Alam blog: Mandela

MARVI LACAR: Maasai Women Project

Kahlo House, Mexico © Marvi Lacar / All rights reserved

Hudson Bay, Ivujivik, Canada, 2008 © Marvi Lacar / All rights reserved

Takaya, Escaped From FGM. The Tasaru Ntomomok Safehouse for Girls, Kenya. Photograph © Marvi Lacar / All rights reserved

Mary Silio. The Tasaru Ntomomok Safehouse for Girls, Kenya

Photograph © Marvi Lacar / All rights reserved

MARVI LACAR came to the U.S. at age 15 from the Philippines. After receiving a bachelor's degree in Michigan from a liberal arts college, Lacar worked for several non-profit organizations before pursuing her master's degree in Journalism at the University of Texas in Austin. She completed a visual journalism fellowship at the Poynter Institute and interned at the Philadelphia Inquirer before moving to NYC in 2004.

Lacar was the 2008 winner of the Levallois - Epson Photography Award for her Journey Through Avignon. For her work documenting the progress of Maasai girls, women and men who are fighting against Female Genital Mutilation she won the 2008 Jurors Choice, Project Competition from the Santa Fe Center for Photography. She has been a nominee for the Joop Swart Masterclass and recognized by Communication Arts, PDN, and American Photography. Her clients include The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, Paris Match and Stern Magazines among many others.
Project: Healing the Deepest Scars: Rescue and Rehabilitation of Maasai Girls Escaping Circumcision and Early Marriage

Lacar lives in NYC with her husband, photojournalist Benjamin Lowy.
Website: http://www.marvi.net
PhotoBetty Post

BENJAMIN LOWY: Iraq Perspectives

Photograph © Bejamin Lowy/ All rights reserved
Click images to enlarge

Taken through Humvee window
Photograph © Bejamin Lowy/ All rights reserved

Taken through Humvee window
Photograph © Bejamin Lowy/ All rights reserved

Most people have never really seen or felt the effects of war. Confronted by a level of violence so high that walking on the streets to photograph is tantamount to suicidal behavior, I found myself confined to working with American soldiers, spending most of my time going on various missions while looking at the landscape of this broken country. My only view was through the inches-think bulletproof window of an Army Humvee. –Benjamin Lowy

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BENJAMIN LOWY received a BA from Washington University, St. Louis in 2002 and began his career covering the Iraq War in 2003. Since then he has covered major stories in Afghanistan, Darfur, Haiti, Indonesia, and Libya among others. In 2004 Lowy attended the World Press Joop Swart Masterclass and was nominated for the ICP Infinity Award. He was named in Photo District News 30 and his images of Iraq were chosen by PDN as some of the most iconic of the 21st century. Lowy has received awards from World Press Photo, POYi, PDN, Communication Arts, American Photography, and the Society for Publication Design. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Men's Health, ESPN Magazine, and other publications. Benjamin's work from Iraq and Darfur have been collected into several gallery and museum shows, and his work from Darfur appeared in the SAVE DARFUR media campaign.

Lowy's impressive photographs are an example of the high caliber of work selected to participate in Review Santa Fe 2009. After the Review weekend was over, I had a noteworthy experience in the DFW airport hub. Over lunch I sat in on an Enlightening conversation between Anthony Bannon, Director, George Eastman House and Ben Lowy. Among the history of photography and other related topics bandied about, I found out Ben is married to photojournalist Marvi Lacar and they are expecting their first child, a boy, this year. Good Fortune! Look for a post on Marvi Lacar's photographs soon.

Read: 2011 Update

Benjamin Lowy Website
Darren Ching on PDN: Iraq I Perspectives
Marvi Lacar

TRAVEL: Global Pandemic

Photograph by Anonymous
Air China Flight Arriving from JFK, Beijing Capital Airport, June 9, 2009

Still reeling from the 2003 SARS outbreak, Chinese health officials (above) from the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau in full protective clothing check passengers' temperature, passports and health declaration forms before allowing passengers to leave the plane.

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BEIJING: After flying 12 hours from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to Beijing Capital Airport on an Air China Flight, passengers were required to remain seated in the plane for an additional hour to be individually checked for high temperature by Chinese health officials of the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau in order to ensure none showed signs of the H1N1 virus. Before being allowed to leave the plane each passenger was also questioned on the state of their health and then given health declaration forms to fill out. Cards declaring they are free of symptoms were given to hold onto their person for a period of two weeks to establish their good health.

HEATHER McCLINTOCK: Innocent Casualties

Alema Rose, Aler IDP Camp, Uganda, 2006. Copyright (c) Heather McClintock/All Rights Reserved

"I would like to give you a message. Please do your best to tell the world what is happening to us, the children, so that other children don’t have to pass through this violence." —A 15-year-old girl who escaped from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda

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HEATHER McCLINTOCK was raised on a dairy farm in Vermont. She received her BA in photography from New England College in New Hampshire, and Arundel, England, then relocated to New York City to work in prestigious commercial studios. A desire to pursue humanitarian relief work led to her involvement with documentary photography. Heather first visited northern Uganda in 2005, where she focused on the strength and grace of the Acholi people, ravaged by both mental and physical cruelties resulting from a brutal twenty-year civil war. She returned in 2007. Her Uganda work garnered many awards, including the 2006 Center for Photographic Art Artist Project Award and her partnership with Blue Earth Alliance.

“Stepping over the edge and pursuing documentary photography is intrinsically not supposed to be about oneself… but of course life is never so black and white. The situations we find ourselves in as photographers inevitably point and entwine that outer lens back onto ourselves. How do we photograph differently so people won’t turn away from more pain seen in another’s eyes? Are we taking that nebulous something; pride, dignity, humanity, away from someone more than we are actually helping? In northern Uganda, I lost all hesitancy and self-doubt when asking for everyone’s permission to photograph them. ‘We want our plight to be seen. Show these images. Bring people back to help us. Please.’ We are graced with a huge amount of responsibility when we don’t look away from another’s plight, another’s soul. We have been entrusted with the burden of helping people with our images. And most disturbingly, we can leave these places. Are we then strong enough to continue to persevere on their behalf from the outside? If they can survive with such strength and grace, how dare we do anything less? Seeing their pain IS the point. Their stories of devastation and dignity reflect the ambiguity and mystery within each of us.” (quote from Geoffrey Hiller's VervePhoto)

I first met Heather two years ago at the Santa Fe CENTER for Photography's Portfolio Review. I was humbled by her photographs. Her first solo exhibition The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda was recently shown at Gallery FCB in New York City and her photographs are included in Child Soldiers, Edited by Leora Kahn published by powerHouse Books.

To purchase prints: Gallery FCB
Heather McClintock: http://www.heathermcclintock.com

SHIHO FUKADA: Pulitzer Nomination

Photograph by Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

"Tibetan monks leaving morning prayer on Wednesday at Rongwo Monastery in Qinghai Province, China. The Tibetan New Year has come, but many Tibetans, angry over the events of the past year, are rejecting official efforts to drum up festivities." Shiho Fukada was detained for 20 hours after taking this photograph.

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SHIHO FUKADA, a native of Tokyo, now based in Beijing, China, has a degree in English literature from Tokyo's Sophia University and worked in fashion and advertising before becoming a photojournalist. Fukada's stark photograph of Tibetan monks was recently published on the front page of The New York Times. I thought it was a powerful choice for photo editor Michele McNally to select for the cover of the Times newspaper.

Shiho's work includes portraits of child labor in Bangladesh where poverty pushes an estimated 6 to 7 million children to work, comprising one-fifth of the country's labor force. She also spent months in the Bangladesh brothels photographing both the child prostitutes and women who were sex workers for 50 years .

Her website includes her award winning photographs of the grief stricken families taken after the 2008 earthquake that struck China's Sichuan Province. At least 9,000 children were crushed to death by the falling school buildings. This photographic series received The New York Times Grand Prize, Photo of The Year by Editor & Publisher Magazine in 2008. The China earthquake photographs, like most of her work, began as her own personal project, not an assignment. Her work has also received recognition from the New York Press Photographers Association, The National Press Photographers Association in Photojournalism award, the Best of Photojournalism award for her multimedia work, PDN Annual, Communication Arts and Unicef Photo of The Year.

In the U.S., Shiho has covered the Iowa caucus for New York Magazine, photographed male exotic dancers and the life of migrant farm workers. In between assignments on the road, she recently completed a photo essay about the demise of the biggest labor town in Japan which has become a dumping ground of old men since the Japanese economy, once 2nd largest in the world, is now deteriorating at its worst pace since the 1970's during this financial crisis.

Shiho has been nominated for The Pulitzer Prize by The New York Times.

http://www.shihofukada.com
The New York Times slides: A Day of Mourning in Tibet
The New York Times 5/29/2009

SONAM ZOKSANG: Tibet

 Boy from Kham, Tibet

  Photograph (c) Sonam Zoksang /All Rights Reserved

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and President Barack Obama
Photograph (c) Sonam Zoksang /All Rights Reserved

Monks waiting for His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Sera Monastery
Photograph (c) Sonam Zoksang /All Rights Reserved

SONAM ZOKSANG was born in Kyirong, Tibet in 1960 after the Chinese invasion of Tibet. His parents escaped to India when Zoksang was one month old. He grew up in refugee schools, got a degree in Buddhist Dialectics, and taught himself photography. In 1985 Zoksang moved to the US, where he now runs Vision of Tibet. Active in the Tibetan Community as an advocate for human rights and political change, he is on the Board of Directors of the US Tibet Committee and has been president of the Tibetan Association of New York and New Jersey.

Sonam Zoksang’s mission is to tell the story of his homeland through photography. He does this by documenting Tibetans and Tibetan life, both in and out of Tibet. Whenever possible, he travels to Tibet to document the conditions in his Chinese-occupied homeland. He often takes pictures of Tibetan refugee communities in India, as well as in the US and other countries. Zoksang’s slide presentations at schools and cultural and community centers are always well-attended; he seeks out these opportunities as he feels education is particularly important. His photos have been widely published in books, magazines, and newspapers, and are widely exhibited, one major show having been in a US Congressional building in Washington DC. That exhibition was forced to close after less than one week due to political pressure.

 

Sonam has an enormous archive of photographs he's taken over decades of travels with H.H. The Dalai Lama, as well as very elegant landscapes of Tibet and India. I keep the Boy From Kham (center) with his hopeful face posted on my wall at all times.

Sonam Zoksang PhotoGallery