Documentary photographer and human rights activist Fazal Sheikh will speak on April 10 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his work will be on display from March 19 to April 19.
His free public lecture, part of the Hanes Visiting Artist Lecture Series in the College of Arts and Sciences, will be at 7 p.m. in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium of the FedEx Global Education Center, located at the corner of Pittsboro and McCauley streets.
The talk is in conjunction with the exhibition of Sheikh’s work in the John and June Allcott Gallery of UNC’s Hanes Art Center, on South Columbia Street beside the Ackland Art Museum.
Sheikh has photographed Sudanese and Somali refugees at camps in Kenya; survivors of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; the indigenous people of Pantanal, Brazil; and immigrants crossing the border between Mexico and the United States.
In contrast to sensational depictions of humanitarian crises, Sheikh’s work features formal black-and-white portraits of his subjects. He lives among them and earns their collaboration.
A New York City native, Sheikh (http://www.fazalsheikh.org) earned a bachelor’s degree in 1987 from Princeton University. As part of a 1992 Fulbright Fellowship, he undertook a photography project in Kenya. There, Sheikh began his commitment to documenting the lives of refugees.
His work has been displayed in solo and group exhibitions at venues including the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago, the Seattle Art Museum and the International Center of Photography in New York City.
Sheikh’s five books are “A Sense of Common Ground” (1996), “The Victor Weeps” (1998), “A Camel for the Son” (2001), “Ramadan Moon” (2001) and “Moksha” (2005).
In 2001, so that this work might be more freely available, Sheikh established the International Human Rights Series, which uses publications, exhibitions and the Internet to reach a wider audience.
Sheikh was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2005. The awards, known informally as “genius grants,” are given annually by the MacArthur Foundation of Chicago to people who “demonstrate exceptional creativity and promise.” Sheikh also has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
UNC sponsors of the Sheikh lecture are the art department, Center for Global Initiatives, African Studies Center, Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, cultural studies program, performing arts and special activities fund, Center for the Study of the American South, Carolina Asia Center and Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History. The Duke University Center for International Studies also is helping to sponsor the event.
For more information, contact Genevieve Donovan, (919) 843-2625, genedono@email.unc.edu.
