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Posted on October 1, 2009 | 7 Comments
Self-portrait
Hi everybody,
Check out my story on today's New York Times Lens. It was shot by me, my husband and son, and nurses. It is posted in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, because I know that many millions of women and their families cope with that common disease every day: lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/behind-18/.
Posted on September 15, 2009 | 2 Comments
Catch my slide shows, and stories from Windows of the Soul this fall:
At the 2009 Fall for the Book Festival, Tuesday September 22 at 7:30pm. Join me at the Johnson Center Cinema on George Mason University's Fairfax, Virginia Campus.
>>Map
Posted on May 11, 2009 | 1 Comments
Dear Readers/Viewers,
Windows of the Soul news includes:
The launch of a new NG Live! DVD in The Photographers series of my slide lecture (and Sam Abell's) at the National Geographic Society, and it includes up close and personal interviews. Learn more and buy the DVD here.
The Windows of the Soul photo exhibit will premier at the 21st edition of the International Festival of Photojournalism Visa Pour L'Image in Perpignan, France.
The dates are August 29th to September 13th. Find out more here.
Windows of the Soul is excerpted in the spring issue of Sarah Lawrence Magazine - read more here.
The Armenian Reporter did an in-depth interview, reprinted here.
On April 9th my photos from mass graves in Syria were shown as a slide show in New York at Columbia University during a forum on the Armenian Genocide moderated by New York Times reporter Andrea Kannapell, featuring Professor Taner Akcam and lawyer Mark Geragos.
Arizona was lovely, moody and beautiful; saw lots coyotes, deer, and other fauna and flora such as Saguaro cactus and plentiful desert spring flowers. Took a trip with my family all the way down to Nogales where we stayed at a gorgeous 300 year old cattle ranch, now an inn. Here is the ranch on a National Geographic map.
Then at the Tucson Festival of Books, I did two slide show/book talks and two signings for The Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the BookStore, University of Arizona, Tucson.
Amanda Shauger of KXCI public radio talked at length with me about the book - hear the interview here.
I did a live segment on KOLD TV and was also interviewed by Tony Paniagua on KUAZ public radio station.
While I was in Arizona, a pow wow took place at the Tohono O'odham reservation. I felt lucky, as I have long been interested in photographing there. Above is a photo of some Native American dancers text messaging behind the San Xavier Church. Thanks and until next time!
Posted on November 22, 2008 | 0 Comments
The Holy Shrine of Hazrat Fatemah Ma'soomeh
Sorry for the absence! It is Foto Week here in Washington, D.C., and I've been busy going to exhibitions, events. I also helped hang a photo exhibit I'm part of which was the kick-off event of the week, by Contact Press Images, the photo agency I belong to.
I've also got some photos on exhibit now at the National Geographic Society: www.nationalgeographic.com/museum/exhibitions/focal-point.html
Continuing to expand upon aspects of my book, Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World, published by Focal Point, National Geographic Books' new imprint, and wrapping up the intro chapter, people often ask me what it is like to be a woman in my field, so here we go:
Mogadishu, Somalia
Being a woman working in the Muslim world has mostly been a great experience--one of the most satisfying of my life. Sure, I have been beaten, shot at, and more, as I write about in my book, but these things happen anywhere to anybody in the world during a conflict, most recently in Congo or Georgia. The Muslim world is just like the rest of the planet: It goes through cycles of political change, and sometimes that change can be dramatic.
Hezbollah rally, Baalbek, Lebanon
I have mostly been made to feel at home in the Muslim world. I have made a point to dress modestly and know the local etiquette and culture wherever I have worked. Throughout my career, I have had unusual access to Islamist groups and individuals, including Hamas and Hezbollah, so being a woman has not at all been a disadvantage. Indeed, being a woman has actually been an advantage in that once trust is earned, I have been able to interact with both male and female sides of the conservative Muslim world. Male photographers are usually forbidden entry to the world of conservative Muslim women.
Masked women, Minab, Iran
In the field and on assignment, being a woman helps as much as it hinders. Sometimes people will help you because you are a woman, or think you couldn't possibly be analytical or important enough to be a challenge. Other times they will stop you because they think it's easier to do so.
Being a woman in the photography world is as tough as in any other male-dominated field, although I have mostly been supported spectacularly in my career by the best editors, and am grateful for it. There have also been unfortunate incidents of gender bias and sexual harassment that I have in common with working women in many professions.
Yuai , Southern Sudan
As you will see from my book, there is no difference between me and the toughest, most successful male photographers. My experience as a photojournalist has been exciting and rewarding, and I wouldn't trade back any of it. Being a woman has been an important part of that journey.
Related Links:
www.fotoweekdc.org/
www.contactpressimages.com
Posted on November 11, 2008 | 1 Comments
Before wrapping up the personal intro section of my book by jumping into the subject of being a woman photojournalist in the world at large and in the Muslim world, I'd like to post some of my pix from U St. NW in Washington, D.C., the night President-elect Barack Obama won the election.
U St. NW is famous in African-American history and culture. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Street_Corridor.) That was the place to be Tuesday night, and I stayed till past 3 a.m.
Worldwide I've been present at joyful high points of struggles for independence in places like Eastern Europe, the entire former U.S.S.R., and the Middle East, but I had never seen this kind of ecstasy in American streets until November 4, 2008.
As seen on Oprah's 2008 "Season's Best Gift Books" list, and named one of the best photography books of 2008 by American Photo in their Jan/Feb 2009 issue.
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The images featured in this blog are the intellectual property of Alexandra Avakian and protected by copyright; therefore, no image may be used, downloaded, copied, republished, manipulated, transmitted, or distributed in any way without prior written permission from Alexandra Avakian and/or her photo agency.
