I carry my camera to some of the world’s most silent and marginalized places, where—in Chernobyl, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, and now Lebanon—I try to amplify the voices of those who have been quieted and bring faces on the fringe into the light. My lens is not dispassionate. Rather, I am an advocate for the individuals I photograph. Their dignity, resilience, and persevering humanity amid unimaginable hardship and despair leave me no choice but to cling to my own naivÈtÈ and belief that, with pictures, one can train another’s focus, ultimately alleviating pain and rallying support for social justice.

PROJECTS, EXHIBITIONS, GRANTS & AWARDS

2006 Eddie Adams Workshop (Participant)
Chernobyl 20th Anniversary Commemorative Exhibition (c-20.org)
Exhibited at Rayburn Building, Washington, DC, and the UN Headquarters, New York. Participating photographers: Paul Fusco, Lucian Perkins, Antonin Kratochvil
Trust for Mutual Understanding Grant
Collaborated with CEC ArtsLink Projects and the Outpost for Contemporary Art of Los Angeles on an international exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Kiev
Gordon Parks Photography Contest (Finalist)
9th International Photography Festival
Meeting With the Middle East, Aleppo, Syria
2005 Aperture Portfolio Review (Top Tier Portfolio of Merit)
Puffin Foundation Grant
Produced “Living with Chernobyl,” a collection of images from evacuated villages in Ukraine and Belarus
CEC ArtsLink Projects Award
Partnered with three other artists, one from the US and two from Ukraine, to document post-Soviet and post-Chernobyl changes in Ukraine
Walters Travel Fellowship Award
Used this funding, given to a graduating student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, to document present-day life in Iran
2004 CANON “Explorer of Light” Award
Documented orphanages in Belarus, where many children live in the shadow of Chernobyl, for the project “Half-Lives, Half-Truths”
Chernobyl 20 Years - 20 Lives, Ukraine & Belarus
Explored life 20 years after Chernobyl for this book and traveling exhibition
PDN Annual Photography Competition (Winner in a Student Category)
Maryland Federation of Art, 12th National Photo Exhibit
Juror’s Choice Award, Juror: Eli Reed,
The National Graduate Photography Institute, Columbia University, New York (Fellow)
2003 Puffin Foundation Grant
Organized and invited six other photographers to contribute images to the still-traveling exhibition “Faces of Iraq”