PhotoZero

PHOTOZERO

www.photozero.org

Email:photozerobangkok@gmail.com

Raindogs Bar, Bangkok

By photographers for photographers, the second annual meeting of PhotoZero will take place next week in Bangkok. World class photographers will showcase their work, and engage the audience on the important social role played by documentary photography. And everyone is welcome.

We hope you can make the time and join the discussions and be part of this experience.

Entrance fee: 200 baht (includes food)

Drinks and food from 1700. Slideshow at 1900 sharp(ish).

March 13: Michael Coyne (Blackstar) "A Life in Documentary Practice". David Dare Parker (Onasia, DegreeSouth) "Indonesian Transitions" Androniki Christodoulou (WPN) "Tokyo Fetish"

March 14: Burmese Days Thierry Falise (Onasia) "Burmese shadows" Nic Dunlop (Panos) BURMA "BETRAYAL"

March 15: On Conflict Jason P. Howe (ConflictPics) "Colombia, Between the Lines" Nick Nostitz (Focus) "Red vs. Yellow - Thailand's crises of identity" Paula Bronstein (Getty Images) Afghanistan, " A Fragile Peace" James Nachtwey (VII)

The PhotoZero Team:

Patrick Brown

Yvan Cohen

Jesper Haynes

Gerhard Jörén

Torgeir Norling

Pierre Peyrot

Nym, Korakot Punlopruksa

Jum, Supattra Vimonsuknopparat

Event Schedule:

March 13: Slideshow start from 7PM each day

Moderator: Thomas Nordanstad www.nordanstad.com

Michael Coyne (Blackstar) "Acts of Witness"

"I want to show people’s lives in an honest and caring way. I want to understand and reveal the circumstances that govern those lives. I want to document what I see as honestly as I can; I believe that role of the documentary photographer is to witness and to communicate."

Michael Coyne will talk about and show the images from his PhD by Publication, A Life in Documentary Practice. His PhD focuses on practical ethical questions and their relation to the rules and principles of documentary photography.

David Dare Parker (Onasia, DegreeSouth) "Indonesian Transitions"

During the past decade he has covered the Archipelago’s extremes of poverty and wealth, corruption, tensions, the ethnic and cultural diversity of its people and historic events, such as the fall of the Suharto regime after 32 years in power and the re-birth of a nation with East Timor bravely voting for its independence in 1999. He also covered the conflict in Aceh between GAM separatists and Indonesian Military and the devastating Tsunami that struck the region on December 26th 2004, tragically claiming so many lives.

Photojournalism is a precarious, often frustrating, occasionally wonderful way of life. Photojournalists are not protected from the reality of what is happening in front of them and are not immune to the effects of human emotion. Whatever the motivation to pursue this type of work--whether it is a sense of tradition, professional principle or humanitarian concern--in the hands of these dedicated professionals the camera has become a significant story-telling tool. Whether they are completing a personal project in some remote part of the world or working alongside their colleagues in the latest hotspot, photojournalists will continue to offer us a glimpse into the human condition. ©DDP

Androniki Christodoulou (WPN)

"Tokyo Fetish"

A trip into Tokyo's underbelly, in a world that lives in hostess bars, fetish themed parties, private SM sessions, leather and rubber costumes, whips, wigs, ropes and industrial music

March 14: Burmese Days

Thierry Falise (Onasia) "Burmese shadows"

A journey through a country's troubled personality. There is probably not another country on Earth than Burma who is experiencing a worst kind of split personality syndrome. For almost 50 years, a ruthless military dictatorship has systematically repressed with violence any popular uprising, Burmese soldiers have been conducting cruel but forgotten ethnic cleansing campaigns in remote mountain and jungle territories often ruled by warlords and drug traffickers. Facing the oppression and unemployment in their own country, more than two millions Burmese citizens have gone in exile, mostly in Thailand where they live in refugee camps or work, often in slavery conditions, for unscrupulous companies. Even natural catastrophes, such as the cyclone Nargis, can turn out into major political issues.

Still, despite those tragic realities, most of the Burmese people live a rather normal life, although with difficulties and with a deep feeling of fear instilled in their mind by decades of dictatorship. They are working, traveling, learning, eating, resting and above all revering Buddha, spirits or other deities. Those somehow contradictory faces of a same country are developing side by side. It's vital to explore all of them to start to understand Burma and its people.

Thierry Falise, a Belgian free-lance photojournalist based in Bangkok, has been covering Burma on and off the beaten track for more than twenty years. This 12-minute slideshow is his personal diary.

Nic Dunlop (Panos)

BURMA: BETRAYAL

For almost half a century Burma, has been ruled by one of the most brutal and closed military dictatorships in the world. Despite widespread opposition, both inside and outside the country, its iron-clad grip on the country remains firm.

Since 1992, Nic Dunlop has been documenting the plight of the people of Burma and their struggle to survive. Nic's book BETRAYAL will be the first in-depth photographic investigation of one of the world's most brutal regimes. This body of work shows what a dictatorship actually looks like. From the frontlines of the ongoing civil war to its deceptively tranquil cities firmly under military rule; from the home of imprisoned democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to the lives of ordinary people and their struggle to survive. It is both an historic record, with rare images spanning 15 years, and the most up-to-date exposé of a secretive and ruthless regime.

March 15: On Conflict

Jason P. Howe (ConflictPics)

"Colombia, Between the Lines"

Nervous policemen patrolling an oil rich border town, a wounded Government soldier lying next to his dead colleagues, a rebel couple kissing, displaced families building new homes and a self confessed killer reading her daughter a bedtime story; these are some of the characters that inhabit the shadowy and dangerous world in which photojournalist Jason P. Howe immersed himself over a period of 5 years to document the Colombia behind the headlines.

Sensational news stories and cold analysis insulate us from the reality of daily life for the thousands of Colombians that have taken up arms and the millions that have fled their homes to escape the violence. These stark images reduce the decades of conflict to the basic human struggle to survive. The difference between victim and victor, rebel and refugee, assassin and activist is often only a matter of perspective. The conflict constantly evolves as ideologies, politics, social injustice and most importantly greed continue to add fuel to a self perpetuating war that is resulting in one of the world’s worst and most under reported humanitarian disasters.

Nick Nostitz (Focus)

"Red vs. Yellow - Thailand's crises of identity"

Paula Bronstein (Getty Images)

Afghanistan, " A Fragile Peace"

From my very first visit in late 2001, I was drawn to Afghanistan; it’s people and the remarkable landscape.

The Afghan’s inner strength to survive was visually captivating me.

I kept on coming back for the on-going news coverage but found myself more absorbed with the diversity of the daily life features that I photographed. As a result, these images here are a bit of a “slice of life” of Afghanistan, looking at the worn-torn country starting in late 2001 to present day. This is an on-going photo project for me that will eventually be a book.

Afghanistan is a country in transition, experiencing a very “ fragile peace”. Over the last two years violence has increased in the country to an alarming level as the Taliban continue to show they can successfully carry out brazen attacks inside Kabul, most recently attacking the Ministry of Justice last month. Pakistan is accused of exporting its problems, pushing more of the radical fighters across the Afghan border. In addition to the many problems, there is a growing disillusionment with the government and with that brings fears that the Taliban will continue gaining strength as it uses more “Iraq-style” tactics moving into some rural districts closer to Kabul.

Although women have more freedom then before they still maintain a classic subordinate position in the Afghan society where conservative Islamic laws and traditions dictate what a female is allowed to do in a male dominated world. In the worst cases, violence against women is not under control by any means and women are attempting to commit suicide by self-immolation to escape their horrific lives.

Afghanistan still remains the world's largest producers of opium, which is refined into heroin for sale in many parts of the world. The fight against the narcotics economy is a slow and arduous process. The price of Heroin is so cheap on the streets of Kabul, a day’s supply costs about $3.00 US dollars thus making it an easy temptation.