Monocle Correspondent and New Yorker Contributor Alastair Gee in conversation with photographer Ted Alcorn at September 4 reception
San Francisco, August 6, 2014 — Guided by a mission to improve lives, expand opportunities, and help societies flourish across a dynamic and developing Asia, The Asia Foundation is marking its 60th anniversary with a year-long global conversation on critical issues facing the region today. As part of the global discourse, the Foundation has organized an August 7 to October 31 photography exhibition, Critical Issues Facing Asia: Marking 60 Years with the World Affairs Council in San Francisco. A special artist’s reception that is open to the public will be held on September 4.
The exhibit features 14 international photographers and striking imagery of the six critical issues the Foundation is actively addressing. The photographers featured include:
Ted Alcorn is a photographer, journalist, and filmmaker. The former 2010-2011 Luce Scholar lived and studied in Beijing and in 2011, he traveled to Jogjakarta, Indonesia to document the Living Values Education project for The Asia Foundation. Watch Alcorn speak about his experience here and here.
Conor Ashleigh is a documentary film photographer, focusing on social justice issues and international development. He has worked extensively with the Foundation, including capturing the effects of climate change in Bangladesh – a country that will be most affected by climate change in the next 20 years. View Ashleigh’s photos and listen to his thoughts on one of the most powerful photos of his life.
Sara Farid is an Islamabad-based photographer, currently with Reuters. In 2012, she worked with the Foundation to capture Books for Wheels in conjunction with Books for Asia. Listen to Sara discuss Pakistan’s low literacy rate and capturing the joy of children receiving story books.
The September 4 reception will feature a conversation behind the striking images between Ted Alcorn and Alastair Gee, San Francisco-based correspondent of Monocle, a global magazine on international affairs.
The photo exhibit runs in conjunction with a number of 60th anniversary initiatives, including an interactive timeline of the Foundation’s six decades in Asia. The timeline features compelling archival video, interviews, photographs, documents, and oral histories, including interviews with select photographers whose work will be featured at the photo exhibit.
Looking ahead, the long-standing partnerships the Foundation has formed over six decades and the deep country knowledge and expertise of staff in 18 country offices represent major assets in helping address the critical issues facing Asia in the 21st century: lack of transparency and accountability in government; persistent poverty and rising income inequality; exclusion of women from political and economic life; ethnic and religious conflicts; access to justice and human rights; and disaster management, climate change, and water resource management.
