more from the Lens Blog:
An Inside View of Arab Photography.
Samer Mohdad was a 10-year-old boy living in the mountain village of his Druse ancestors when Lebanon’s civil war broke out in 1975. His life changed overnight: His childhood playmates were now his sworn enemies. The traumatic experience of the war, which lasted until 1990, stayed with him and, Mr. Mohdad believes, eventually led him to photography.
Born by a River,
Watching the Change.
Great piece on LaToya Ruby Frazier in the NY Times Lens Blog about her ongoing work in her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania.
The project’s title was inspired by Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” an epochal civil-rights-era song in which the protagonist, “born by the river” in a time of rampant segregation and racism, imagines a better and more just world. Glimmers of optimism and self-possession shine through the gloom of Ms. Frazier’s pictures — from the splendor of her deceased grandmother’s doll collection to the determination on her young cousin’s face — rescuing her subjects from the visual stereotypes of black poverty.
Another great article on the project in Art Voices
Visit LaToya Ruby Frazier’s website to see more of her work.
Youth in Iran: Inside and Out.
Great Lens Blog featuring the work of Iranian photographer Hossein Fatemi. He offers a very different view of Iran.
“The photographer Hossein Fatemi explores the contrast between how young Iranians present themselves in public and in private, when they are beyond the watchful eye of the Islamic republic’s authorities. ” Read more…”
Link to his An Iranian Journey on Panos Pictures.