Mountain Film: Reza, Photos & So Much More

21 May Mountain Film: Reza, Photos & So Much More

«The world is my field of vision. From war to peace, from the unspeakable to moments of poetry, my images are testimonies of humankind.»

Reza, Photo by Tim Mantoani

What would you do and how would you live if your name in Farsi means “contentment.”

If you are Reza, you might be grateful for the life you have built, but you would not rest on your laurels until you have recorded moments of war and peace for posterity.

You would not be truly content until you have helped women and young lives in war torn and otherwise degraded corners of the Bright Blue Marble find their voices.

Philanthropist, idealist, humanist, architect by training and a globe-trotting heavyweight champion of photojournalism – he is a National Geographic fellow whose images have graced many covers – Reza is in town for Mountainfilm to talk about his life’s work.

Reality TV, by Reza

His first presentation, “The Power of Image for Social Change,” takes place Saturday morning, May 24, 9:15 a.m., at the Palm Theatre. The subject, near and dear to his heart, is how teaching photography in compromised communities can help people testify about their lives and heal through creative expression.

Sunday morning, 8 – 9 a.m., Reza is part of a Coffee & Conversation panel also featuring Dexter Filkin and Ross Kauffmann on the subject of “Working in a War Zone.” According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 70 reporters lost their lives on the job in 2013. Many of those deaths occurred in war zones and other notoriously dangerous terrain.

And Reza’s much ballyhooed images will be on display throughout the weekend at the Ah Haa School for the Arts, starting with Gallery Walk, Friday, May 23, 3:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Who is the man who goes by one name and has traveled the globe armed only with a Leica?

Reza’s story began in Iran, where he grew up and studied architecture. Outraged by the human rights injustices of the Shah’s regime, at age 16, he protested by photographing abuses and posting his images in public places. Eventually he was caught by the Shah’s secret police, imprisoned and tortured for five months. (Reza believes the Iranian government viewed photographs as actual weapons to contain and suppress.)

Little Afghan girl, by Reza

The troubles in his homeland forced Reza into exile and that prompted him to tell the stories of others who’ve found themselves trapped by history.

For the past 30 years, crossing through more than 100 countries, Reza captured images of conflicts, revolutions, human catastrophes and beauty with consummate lucidity. He worked along the front lines of war, particularly in Afghanistan, spending significant time with Ahmed Shah Massoud, the revered leader of the Northern Alliance. (Massoud and his men battled the Russian occupation and then the Taliban before he was assassinated by Al Qaeda in 2001, two days before the events of 9/11.) He captured the Iranian revolution, the nomad horsemen of Eastern Turkestan, and refugee camps in Rwanda.

Not only have his eyewitness testimonies to tragedy and hope been distributed through the international media (National Geographic, Time, Stern, El Pais, Parish Match, Geo…), but also in books, exhibitions and documentaries made by his agency, Webistan.

Beyond the photography, in 1983, Reza became committed to training women and children in visual media and communications through workshops to give them tools that would allow them to strive for better lives.

Reza, on assignment

In 2001, Reza founded a non-profit, the NGO Aina in Afghanistan.

Today, he continues to lead photographic training programs in refugee camps and in European suburbs where underprivileged populations tend to gather, teaching his students print journalism, photojournalism, video production, graphic design and illustration.

You could say Reza’s life is a non-stop adventure with the goal of capturing that wild and elusive beast known as the truth. It is about finding the light at the end of dark tunnels. It is about hope.

Legions of journalists trip over their adjectives trying to capture the essence of the man in a sound byte:

“Reza isn’t a photojournalist; he’s a Sufi who practices photography. In the same way that the Turkish Sufi whirling dervishes practice dance. From the outside, they swirl like crazy spinning tops; on the inside, they meditate from within an inch of God. Reza, he swirls around the world, with calm and profoundness,” said Jean-Paul Mari, Le Nouvel Observateur.

 And this:

“An internationally renowned photographer, he is above all, besides his professionalism and talent, one of those noble souls, humanist and generous who perceives in photography a way to reconcile the world. To change it even, socially, politically and morally,” Delphine de Mallevoüe, Le Figaro.

Reza’ accolades, just in the past five years (the list is otherwise way too long), include the Lucie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Documentary, Lincoln Center, New York, 2009; the Infinity Award for Photojournalism from the International Center of Photography, New York, 2010; Human Rights Award for the “Flying From the Nest,” project, a training center for media studies for Afghan children of the street, 2010; and the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award for longstanding commitment to improvements in the art, Dubai, 2013.

Soaring, by Reza

To help put this remarkable man in sharper focus, click the “play” button and listen to our brief conversation.