What are the confrontations behind travel and news that I share on social networks ? Where do men and women punctuate this peace witness and educator photographer road that I embraced ? Here is an overview of my stay in California a few weeks ago : inspiring, rewarding and committed meetings that I could do there. I hope to see you soon on the roads of the World.
Stanford University : World citizenInvited by Stanford University’s Iranian Studies program, I had the pleasure of giving a lecture to an international audience on the role of photography as a vector of social change. The work of study and memory of the Persian culture that leads this department seems essential to the citizen of the world that I became to understand, to build the East of today and its relationship to the rest of the world. A moving moment of great hospitality, at the invitation of Dr. Abbas Milani.
Palo Alto High School : Responsibility and Ethics Teachers at Palo Alto High School, especially in the photography department, Margo Wixsom and Nathalie Cabili put their passion at the service of high school students whom they invited me to meet. Truly focused on tomorrow, they attended a presentation of my work, on the importance of using the photographic tool to tell a story. To tell in pictures the important moments that will change their lives. Disclose reliable information about the events of our time. Reconcile human responsibility and deontology, through the passions of the image.
Apple : Invite professionals to empower
For a long time, I have been convinced that photographers bear a responsibility to humanity. To witness the conflicts and the daily toil of the peoples, to disseminate them by the press, is not enough. We must rely on these visual testimonials to swap, with professionals in particular, on the values of dignity, social responsibility and commitment. At Apple, on the giant’s first US campus, with the introduction of Riad Kaced, we talked about the future and the key role large corporations can play in establishment of societies of peace.
International school of the Peninsula : Learning from the younger
How to tell the story of poverty and war? Tell the world and the injustices? I always keep in mind this sentence of Gandhi, who said that to build peace in this world, we must begin with children. They are the ones who will carry the torch of dialogue. These classes of schoolchildren I met at the International School of the Peninsula, thanks to Patricia Colin, moved me deeply. The empathy, the deep and altruistic reflections of these children, are a constant engine for the photojournalist and educator that I am.
Encounters : a caring community
During my stay, accompanied by my friend Florence Robichon, I had the pleasure of meeting different actors from the worlds of art, education, and the Californian community. A private conference was organized at Joanna and Alain Rossman, extremely active in Silicon Valley. I am pleased with these moments of sharing around photography, which seems to me more than ever to be a universal language !
