Sunday, November 12, 2006

Ryan Spencer Reed


Ryan Spencer Reed has over 56,000 photographs documenting the plight of the Sudanese people. He has spent months in South Sudan, Darfur, Kenya and Chad. His photographs are a stark reminder of the humanitarian crisis that is occuring in that country.

The first time Ryan went to Sudan, he needed to sell his car in order to pay for the transportation. Today, he leaves for Sudan again. This time to meet with the new vice president (the successor to John Garang) and to hopefully gain access to Darfur.

I stumbled by accident upon Ryan Spencer Reed's website a few months ago and was captivated by his images. We have spoken several times via email and telephone. On Friday night, we met for the first time in person at Northwestern University's STAND conference. Some 36 images of his are on display there and will be traveling the country, raising awareness about the plight of the Sudanese.

He spoke at the conference and presented a moving multimedia presentation of his photographs. You can view that presentation here.

We are please to announce that many of Ryan's images will be included in Facing Sudan. He has a very unique eye and has captured some haunting and heartbreaking images.

Ryan says this about his photographs:

Ultimately, my goal is to create a document which will give a human face to what was once unimaginable but nowadays is shockingly familiar---a genocide unfolding before the eyes of an impotent, dithering world. The cost of doing nothing is one humanity can never afford.
I encourage you to go to Ryan's website. There he has hundreds of images from Sudan.

It will move you.

http://www.ryanspencerreed.com

More photographs can be found at http://www.groupm35.com

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