AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

I had the privilege of attending an amazing slide show, panel discussion and Q&A session at a gallery in NCY last night. Wonderfully for you, even if you weren't there, you can see the video online and learn about some of the speakers and their priorities, too.

First off, if you are not familiar with her work, you must check out Kristen Ashburn's page on the current 401 Projects Gallery
exhibitions page.



According to Contact Press Images of which Kristen is a member photographer,

"Kristen Ashburn was born in 1973 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA. Committed to humanitarianism beyond the lens, while still in college she made five trips to Romania as a volunteer working with neurologically-impaired orphans, and in 1997 established an American chapter of the Romanian Challenge Appeal, becoming its first chairperson. In 2001, the year she joined Contact Press Images, she began to photograph the impact of AIDS in southern Africa, for which she received the 2002 Marty Forscher Fellowship for Humanistic Photography. She is the recipient of Canon’s 2004 Female Photojournalist Award given annually by the French Association of Women Journalists (AFJ) in support for her work on AIDS. She has since produced essays on Palestinian suicide bombers and Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories. She is based in New York City."


Kristen's showing at 401 Projects Gallery is presented in collaboration with Keep A Child Alive. According to their website, Keep A Child Alive is an urgent response to the AIDS pandemic ravaging Africa. With 25 million already dead, the disease continues, wiping out whole societies, threatening economic infrastructure and creating tragic devastation in the family structure. There are currently 12 million AIDS Orphans in Africa alone.



The seed of Keep A Child Alive was sewn in Mombasa, Kenya in 2002. One day in the AIDS Research and Family Care Clinic, a facility initiated by and funded through the efforts of KCA President Leigh Blake with royalties from one of her previous fundraisers, Red Hot + Blue



And here's the press release of the event last night:
KIDS & PHOTOGRAPHY: WHAT MORE CAN PICTURES DO?

A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION with
Laurie Garret, Pulitzer Prize Winner & Author Maryanne Golon, Photo Editor, Time Magazine Leigh Blake, President and Founder, Keep A Child Alive

Since AIDS first exploded into the public consciousness twenty-five years ago, photography has offered the world its most visceral glimpse of the disease’s human toll. Have viewers been moved to action or developed an immunity to the tragedy the images depict? How can photographers, and the media alike, navigate their way between impact and overload? Set to the backdrop of award-winning photojournalist, Kristen Ashburn's, Bloodline: AIDS & Family, these issues, and more, will be discussed. Photographers, editors, writers, and leaders in the non-profit sector will explore, through conversation and visual projections, photography's reaction to the disease, past, present and future.

Chris Anderson of the T.E.D. Conference will moderate the evening.
7:30 PM Tuesday, December 5, 2006