Ahmed Benchemsi
On Tuesday, June 11, 2019— Journalist and activist Ahmed Benchemsi shared his story, told about the death threats, arrests, lawsuits, censorship, and boycotts he faced and discussed the challenges of being a secular, pro-democracy journalist and human rights activist in a region full of autocratic governments and Islamic fundamentalists. Ahmed Benchemsi is the Middle East and North Africa Advocacy and Communications Director for Human Rights Watch. The founder, publisher and editor of Morocco's best-selling weeklies TelQuel and Nishan, and the web-magazine FreeArabs.com, Benchemsi also shared his views on how the Middle East and North Africa are represented in Western media and the biases that sometimes result of sending inexperienced correspondents in the region rather than relying on local hires. The 30-minute talk was followed with a Q&A, and a slideshow presentation featuring visual stories on the Middle East and North Africa, curated by Ahmed Benchemsi and Visura founder Adriana Teresa Letorney.
Featuring Photographs by Amr Alfiky, Fatemeh Behboudi, Alaa Hassan, Kiana Hayeri, Marcio Pimenta
Fred Ritchin + Júlia Pontés
Tuesday, March 12, 2019—Dean Emeritus of the International Center of Photography (ICP) School Fred Ritchin presented Four Corners, a new approach to contextualizing photographs online. He also discussed the Post-Photographic Challenge, or how to make a difference in society at a time of diminished media credibility.Brazilian photographer Júlia Pontés presented her long-term aerial portrayal and documentation of the devastation caused by mining in Brazil. This work was recently recognized by Harvard University’s Planetary Health Alliance and published on Bloomberg Businessweek.