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| Amina, 13, who weaves carpets for a living, surrounded by her classmates at a literacy center. Kabul, 2006. photograph by Jean Chung |
from The New York Times
Monday, February 20, 2012
Turning Art into Activism
by David Gonzalez
Leslie Thomas wants to shock you. She wants to anger you. And above all, she wants you to do something.
She’s not talking about run-of-the-mill, “Hey buddy, watch your step” angry or TMZ sleaze shock. She’s talking about the great humanitarian and social crises of our time, like in Darfur, Afghanistan or Myanmar. And yes, she’s talking to you.
Ms. Thomas, an architect turned activist, is the founder of Art Works Projects, which uses photography to raise awareness of human rights concerns and spur action. Over the last five years it has mounted exhibitions and presented large-scale public slide projections on various themes. It has now published a book of images with accompanying posters and curriculums on the lives of women in Afghanistan. A wide-ranging retrospective opens in Slovenia on Tuesday.
Find the whole story, "Turning Art into Activism" by David Gonzalez, from The New York Times, here. |
| From the British Journal of Photography: Noor Nisa, 20, pregnant, and her mother, Nazer Begam, 40, who live in Weha village, a four hour drive by car to the clinic in Faizabad, wait along the side of the road to be transported to the hospital, after their car broke down, in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan, Nov. 14, 2009. Image © Lynsey Addario / VII. |
