Windows of The Soul Blog

Inauguration of Barack Obama, One-Year Anniversary

2010-01-20T21:30:08Z

I'm excited to announce my upcoming intensive workshops at The International Center of Photography in New York City called The Woman Photojournalist, on January 30& 31 and February 6 & 7: http://www.icp.org/atf/cf/%7BA0B4EE7B-5A90-46AB-AF37-7115A2D48F94%7D/W10_PROGRAM_GUIDE.PDF

Now for some photographs!

One year ago today, Barack Obama was inaugurated as 44th president of the United States. I knew that nearly everybody present, not only professional photographers but grandparents and kids would be taking digital photographs that day, so I decided to work with black & white film.

I wanted to be there to witness a great moment in history, as I have so often in other people's countries, and to photograph it in what had become my town, Washington DC. So I wandered around the streets of DC photographing ordinary people on an extraordinary day. Here are a few pictures from that day one year ago:

Upcoming Events

2009-11-13T03:18:41Z

Masked women take a break after shopping at the weekly open-air market.

Here are some exciting programs I'm doing over the next couple of months:

*NOVEMBER*

As part of Foto Week DC and the Newseum's exhibition on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the pictures I shot for LIFE Magazine are showing on the forty-foot Atrium screen.

>>This slide show runs continuously on a loop for the duration of the Berlin exhibit: www.newseum.org/news/news.aspx?item=nh_BERL091103&style=f

Saturday, November 7 at 2-5p.m.:
Foto Week DC and Lucien Perkins have organized a wonderful event called the Fotoweek Lecture Series at the Katzen Arts Center of American University featuring 3 photographers.

>>At 4 p.m. I'll be giving a slide show of my National Geographic book Windows of the Soul, as well as a selection from the fall of the Berlin Wall: http://fotoweekdc.org/events/listing.aspx?id=233

Tuesday, November 10:
I'll be in New York City as a guest at the Women for Women Awards Gala where a selection of my recent Bosnia story for ELLE magazine will be projected.

Friday, November 13 at 2 pm:
In Miami I'll be doing a slide show/lecture and book signing at Florida International University/School of International and Public Affairs, Middle East Studies Program!

>>Here are the details: news.fiu.edu/2009/10/renowned-photojournalist-alexandra-avakian-to-speak-at-fiu/

Saturday, November 14 at 11:30 am:
I'll be presenting a slide show and signing books at The Miami Book Fair!

>>More info: www.miamibookfair.com/events/alexandra_avakian_on_em_my_journeys_in_t.aspx

*DECEMBER*

Wednesday Dec 2:
At the International Center of Photography in New York City I'll be doing a slide show/book signing of Windows of the Soul: www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.886227/k.9EDD/Lectures_amp_Public_Programs.htm

Thursday Dec 3, 6:30 - 8:30pm:
See me at Columbia University's Davis Auditorium in New York City.
>>More info: www.columbia.edu/cu/cssr/davis_directions.html

Thanks a lot and see you soon!

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

2009-11-05T02:41:50Z

Berlin Wall Photo Gallery

Photographs ©Alexandra Avakian/Contact Press Images

Fall of Berlin Wall, 11/1989.

West Germans at the wall. E. German border guards on top of wall, before the fall.

West Germans attack the wall. East German border guards on other side.

West Germans hitting the wall before it was decided to bring it down.

West German and East German border guards try to control situation before fall of wall.

Immediately after the official tearing-down of the first slabs of the wall.

East Germans waiting to cross. Fall of Berlin Wall, 11/1989.

West German border control processing East Germans on first day of fall of Berlin Wall.

East Germans celebrate with champagne as they cross the border to West Germany.

West German soup kitchen for East Germans who have come across.

West German kids hit the wall after the official opening.

East German border guard seen through a whole in the wall made by West Germans. Before the official opening of wall.

1989 was already a great year: I had covered the Palestinian Intifada, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Glasnost and Perestroika in Moscow, the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, among other stories for Time Magazine and the New York Times.

On the evening of November 5, I was sitting on a friend's couch in Paris glued to my shortwave radio. Hour by hour the story became more exciting: the Berlin Wall might be coming down. That morning at five a.m. I jumped on a plane headed to Berlin. By the time I landed I had an assignment for LIFE Magazine. I found a two-star hotel whose best features were close proximity to the Wall and a gossipy owner who passed on the latest whispers he'd heard about the Wall.

The next morning I awoke before dawn and walked along the Wall, looking for pictures. I found a group of young West German men slamming the Wall with a hammer. It looked as if they had been at it all night. Suddenly water cannon started blasting through the crack the young men had made in the Wall. East German border guards were trying to push us away with the hard freezing blast of water. I made lots of pictures but one frame would become famous.

At a certain point I got up on the top of the Wall with some protesters to photograph. The East German soldiers came up too and forced us back down. It was not at all clear that the Berlin Wall would actually open or that it would go peacefully.

That night I was walking along the Wall and what seemed like tens of thousands of people were standing near Brandenburg Gate at the Wall. I knew I could never fight my way through that crowd to the base of the Wall, so I let the crowd carry me along in the general direction I thought I needed to go. I ended up in front of the Wall where I stood all night long in a denim jacket and flimsy Keds, so freezing I thought I would break in two. It ended up being the best spot. Sometime before dawn border guards and workers came and started systematically dismantling the Wall right in front of us. I was handed one of the very first chunks of Wall to be officially broken--it still sits on my desk.

By dawn people were streaming through the break in the wall. The next three days Berlin was joyful and it seemed nobody slept--the fall of the Berlin Wall was a rare peaceful resolution to a potentially dangerous event. Within days I was off to Prague to photograph the Velvet Revolution.

Avakian's Berlin Wall slide show is being projected continuously on the Newseum's 40 ft Atrium screen as part of Foto Week DC and the Newseum's exhibit Berlin Wall.

>> www.newseum.org/news/news.aspx?item=nh_BERL091103&style=f
>> www.fotoweekdc.org/events/listing.aspx?id=374

Breast Cancer Awareness

2009-10-01T20:55:08Z

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/.

Fall for Windows of the Soul

2009-09-15T21:31:58Z

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

Photographic Home

2009-09-03T12:59:58Z

A photo from the exhibit Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World, based on my book published by National Geographic

Hello again from Visa pour L'image international photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France. Visa pour L'image is one of my photographic homes, and I am deeply pleased to be exhibiting here again. Terrific shows abound with the photojournalists such as Eugene Richards, the late Francois Demulder, Abbas, David Burnett, Massimo Berutti, Dominic Nahr, Walter Astrada, and more. Wednesday I was honored to be a judge on the Pierre and Alexandra Boulat Association grant. They were dear friends of mine.

Then we had a lovely, long luncheon given by Canon for the exhibiting photojournalists. I gave a gallery talk to about two hundred people from many countries and walks of life, that afternoon. The turnout for the festival has been just huge.

Thursday there was another wonderful luncheon given by ICP. Jean-Francois Leroy received the Chevalier (Knight) of the Order of Arts and Literature Last night. Then, the National Geographic cocktail party was hosted by Susan Smith and Maura Mulvihill, in a slight breeze near the flying buttresses of an ancient church. Afterwards, as always, everyone went to the nightly projections.

Busy with lots of media interviews back to back. Yesterday I did a book signing of Windows of the Soul, and gallery talk in front of my exhibit as well. Sold the books out. ELLE gave a gorgeous little party at the Couvant des Minimes. Today there is a party on the beach given by Paris Match.

Professional Week at Visa pour L'image is ending this weekend and we'll all jet off in different directions. But first there will be a lovely dinner by the sea Sunday night. Next week the shows open to the general public.

Jean-Francois Leroy and Visa Pour L'Image

2009-08-27T17:56:54Z

Jean-Francois Leroy, Director and Founder of Visa Pour L'Image on the staircase of Hotel Pams, Perpignan, France

Hello from lovely Perpignan in the south of France, where I am honored to have an exhibition at the renowned international photojournalism festival Visa Pour L'image. This is my third exhibit at Visa Pour L'Image; the first was 21 years ago in 1988, the first year of the festival.

Walking along sun-blasted cobblestone streets, taking shelter in cool shadows along the way, I smell dust, fresh bread and the tang of stewing tomatoes and hot spices; behind tall windows shuttered against the sun, lunch is cooking. A silver-green olive tree stands alone in the center of a tiny square. Fresh laundry moves slightly on lines strung across ancient alleys; a boy dashes through a sharp streak of light.

On Rue Emile Zola I come to Hotel Pams, the base of the festival, where I visited with Visa Pour L'Image founder and Director Jean-Francois Leroy in his office.

Jean-Francois has long given much of his time and heart to photojournalism; he is one of the most important curators and editors in the world, and an enduring, passionate defender of photojournalists. He's in constant motion so soon before the opening of the festival this Saturday, Aug. 29.

Every year there is a theme for the festival, and 2009 has a dramatic one. So, please click here to read an interview with Jean-Francois Leroy, by Caroline Laurent and Lucas Menget on this year's theme at Visa and the future of photojournalism:

Conversation with JF Leroy.pdf

Visa pour l'Image - Perpignan

2009-08-25T19:02:57Z

I'll be at Visa pour l'Image - the premier International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan, France. Stay tuned for updates from the festival and news about my exhibit.

Windows of the Soul on NPR's Picture Show

2009-07-23T20:05:44Z

Check out NPR's Picture Show today, featuring Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World by photojournalist Alexandra Avakian, published by Focal Point/National Geographic.

Windows of the Soul on Time.com

2009-07-16T12:06:34Z

TIME.com now features the book Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World, by Alexandra Avakian, published by National Geographic.

Iran Today

2009-06-23T18:06:19Z

At the temporary grave of Ayatollah Khomeini,1989

Twenty years ago this month, in June 1989, I was in Iran photographing the mourning for Ayatollah Khomeini. Ten years ago I covered the reform movement when it was in power under President Mohammed Khatami. Iran has shifted from right to left and back again, but always within the context of an Islamic state. As I write this Iran is passing through dramatic social upheaval again with a moderate opposition movement taking to the streets to contest recent elections favoring the conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the conservatives crack down.

The stakes for the future of the Islamic Republic are high and the outcome is uncertain at this time. Read more about my experiences in Iran from my fall 2008 post: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/photography/windowsofthesoul/iran. And view my photos from Iran:

Men standing near a painting of Ayatollah Khomeini

Boy kissing a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini

Blood of a sacrificed lamb streaks a north Tehran street on the day of mourning for Imam Hussain and the peak of the month of Muharram.

Imam Mosque, Isfahan, Iran

Actress on a movie set, Kish Island, Iran

Women weaving a rug, Heris, Iran

Young couple on Khajou Bridge, Isfahan, Iran

A 17-year-old Kurdish bride at Zarivar Lake, Iran

Windows of the Soul on NY Times Lens

2009-06-04T13:09:19Z

Dear Friends and Colleagues, Check out today's New York Times feature about Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World.

Click here: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/

MULTIMEDIA | June 04, 2009
Lens: Showcase: Taking Risks
By James Estrin
Alexandra Avakian takes chances. She faced down militias in Somalia and covered riots and conflict in Gaza, Lebanon and the Caucasus to make the photographs in her book, "Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World" (Focal Point/National Geographic, 2008).
Source: lens.blogs.nytimes.com

New DVD, Exhibit News, and More

2009-05-11T17:42:48Z

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!

Slideshows in the Desert

2009-03-06T18:12:26Z

Gaza City

This weekend I'm off to the Arizona desert for photography, work, and fun. Later next week I will be at the Tucson Festival of Books in Arizona.

On Thursday, March 12 at 6:30, The University of Arizona's Center for Middle East Studies and the U.A. School of Journalism are co-sponsoring my book slideshow/talk. Learn more at www.cmes.arizona.edu/calendar.

And I'll do it again in slightly different form for the Festival at the University of Arizona Bookstore on Saturday, March 14 at 2:30 pm, where I will also be signing books. Learn more at www.uofabookstores.com/uaz/TFOB/default.asp.

Well, Chicago was wonderful. On February 19, I gave my brand new Windows of the Soul slide show/talk for a sensitive and deep audience of art and book lovers and others at FLATFILEgalleries. I showed 70 slides and told some of the edgiest and most compelling stories from my book in a personal tour of Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World.

Susan Aurinko, the gallery owner/director, photographer and poet also read two beautiful poems by Nadia Anjoman, the late Afghan poet. Please read them here on the UniVerse website: www.universeofpoetry.org/Afghanistan.shtml.

Richard Fammeree and Francesco Levato of UniVerse read poems that night. Francesco's was harrowing: an unrelenting, personal view of war that doesn't let you off the hook and as it shouldn't. (War Rug: www.francescolevato.com). Fammeree's poetry had a gentler view with visions of ancient world and the differences and similarities between us.

Also on February 19, I sat for an in-depth interview about my book and life on Chicago Public Radio's Worldview with the excellent host Jerome McDonnell. You can listen to the interview here.

Will write to you again after Arizona!

Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World Latest!

2009-02-23T18:40:47Z

On Saturday, February 21 at 8 a.m. (EST) and Sunday, February 22 at 12 a.m. and 1 p.m. (EST), CSPAN2's Book TV featured Alexandra's NG Live! 10/08 slide show and book talk at the National Geographic Society.

On Thursday, February 19, Alexandra and Windows of the Soul were featured in an in-depth interview on Worldview with Jerome McDonnell on Chicago Public Radio, and at a slide show and book signing at FLATEFILEgalleries in Chicago.

Voice of America TV, Radio and website covered Avakian and Windows of the Soul last month, and again on February 21 & February. 22 on the V.O.A. program Conference USA.

For Avakian's blog, gallery, bio, book and more visit blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/photography/windowsofthesoul.

CONTACT:
Jeffrey D. Smith

jeffreysmith@contactpressimages.com
Contact Press Images, Inc.
341 West 38th Street -7th fl
New York, NY 10018
Phone: 212-695-7874 or 7875
Fax: 212-695-7768