Past Exhibits

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY MIKE MCCAFFREY MPA'12

The fabled Coral Triangle is full of dazzling colors and exotic species, making it a truly spectacular place to explore. It is a network of extremely biodiverse reefs between the Philippines, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Solomon Islands, and is often referred to as the “Amazon of the Oceans.” Roughly three-quarters of the world’s coral species and 40% of the world’s reef fish live within its boundaries. Most of our underwater world still remains a mystery to us, however, highlighted by the recently completed Marine Census that identified over 10,000 new species.

Sadly, the magic of these seas is fading before most have had a chance to peer beneath the waters. These reefs provide billions of dollars in revenue for the fishermen in the area. However, overfishing, costal development, and marine pollution from the 120 million inhabitants of the Coral Triangle are the greatest threat to its survival. Rising sea levels are salinating fresh water breeding grounds for many species, and warmer, more acidic waters are causing entire reefs to die. Some estimates predict that even if the fisheries survive the fishermen, a rise in average climatic temperature of over two degrees will cause these ecosystems to collapse.

There are many efforts to save this natural resource, but results are still unclear. Many governments and non-profit organizations promote Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a potential solution, where communities agree to limit fishing in designated areas for agreed upon periods of time to allow species to rebound. Currently there are thousands of these around the Coral Triangle; however, an audit done by the World Resources Institute reported that only 15% of them were rated as “effective.”

This exhibit is designed to provide seldom seen perspectives from under the waters of the Coral Triangle, to raise awareness of this wonderful place.

Mike McCaffrey is an MPA candidate at the Woodrow Wilson School. He started his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Bolivian Andes, and most recently worked in the South Pacific developing financial services for low income people in eight countries around the region. Upon graduation he will move to East Africa to develop systems to help people save money securely on their mobile phones. For more information about this exhibit, please contact MikeMcCaffreySF@gmail.com.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY TIEN-NHAN (NICOLE) PHAN '12

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the world witnessed free elections in Egypt, the opening of long time pariah state of Libya, and most recently, the Arab League leading the charge to end civil violence in Syria. The tumult that rocked Tahrir Square marked a changing tide in regional events. As pivotal as these events have proven, however, the future remains uncertain. The following is an extract from a larger social documentary project produced in 2010, precisely a year before the revolution.   These are images of Egypt in its latter months under the Mubarak regime.   Tien-Nhan (Nicole) Phan spent six months living a few blocks away from Tahrir Square. At the Woodrow Wilson School, her interests focus on humanitarian policies and multilateral practices in the field of international security and asylum-refugee management, particularly in the Near East.

Twenty-one years have passed since East and West Germany reunified. Germany’s journey towards once again becoming a unified country has not been a smooth one: hearts and minds had to be won on both sides after the initial enthusiasm wore off, and chronically high unemployment rates, depopulation, and political disillusionment in the former East have challenged citizens and politicians alike. Simultaneously, political freedom, capitalism, economic growth, and a $1.7 to $2.1 trillion transfer of funds from West to East have transformed the former East Germany.

Berlin, with its Wall long symbolizing the division of the “two Germanys,” has been at the epicenter of this momentous development. Germany’s largest city, it is as complex and multifaceted as its history. A perpetually unfinished city in constant flux, Berlin occupies many spaces in the German popular imagination. The photos in this exhibit cast a critical glance on several of the political, social, and economic issues Berlin has navigated since its reunification.

MPA2 student Julian Lee spent three months in Berlin in the summer of 2011 on an internship with the Ecologic Institute. He is originally from Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany.

PHOTOGRAPHY & TEXT BY KERRY BRENNAN MPA '12

The photographs in this exhibit were taken during two joint field supervision missions undertaken by the World Bank and DSWD in July and August of 2011. The goal of the periodic supervision missions is to observe program implementation at all stages, and discuss emerging issues and grievances with key stakeholders including service providers, program employees, and beneficiaries. In addition, the group served as a monitoring team, verifying that compliance records kept at local schools and health centers coincided with official program records, and that teachers and midwives were fully informed about the program requirements. The two provinces visited were Palawan, an island in Southwestern Philippines, and Aklan, an island in the Western Visayas region of Central Philippines.

The artwork gathered here provides a glimpse into how Princeton students are bringing challenging social and medical realities into the life of the University as it seeks to internationalize education. Supported by the Program in Global Health and Health Policy and the Health Grand Challenges Initiative, this interdisciplinary group of students worked to combine research and service in communities all over the world—from China to South Africa, Sierra Leone to Brazil and Belize. The photographs and objects they have brought back convey the rich intensity of their encounters with the people of global health. In the ethnographic stories and individual narratives that accompany each piece, students not only add historical and contextual depth to the vulnerable populations they engaged—they also bring critical scrutiny to the possibilities and limits of their own modes of representation. Students reflect on evidence-making practices and ask how large-scale health interventions affect not only patients, but also their families, medical workers, health systems and politics. Together, their work proves the value of a people-centered approach to global health.

PHOTOGRAPHY & TEXT BY ELIE TEICHMAN

For hundreds of years, the Mongolian people have been defined by their nomadic culture. Even today, herding and grazing remain fundamental to the Mongolian identity. Herders and their families roam the Mongolian steppe with large flocks of sheep, goats, and horses, continuing a tradition and a means of livelihood that dates back beyond the days of Mongolia's defining leader Genghis Khan in the 11th century.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY NIKLAS PETERS

To most US citizens, Cuba is a mysterious and perplexing place. Once viewed as a major threat of growing socialist influence in the Western Hemisphere, and now seen as a curious relic of a fallen ideology, it's only natural to wonder how socialism survives in a small island nation just ninety miles from our border. Given the US embargo and ban on travel to the island, it's very difficult to satisfy this curiosity through personal experience. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to live and study in Havana for several months through the Woodrow Wilson School's new study abroad program.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY WES MORGAN

Since 2007, I have made yearly trips to Iraq and Afghanistan as a freelance journalist. In two visits to Iraq in 2007-8 and two to Afghanistan in 2009-10, I have had the privilege of embedding with fifteen American and British infantry, cavalry, and Special Forces battalions.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY WILL DURBIN

This past summer I spent working on microfinance in Mancherial, Andhra Pradesh, India. Mancherial is a “small” town of about 60,000, yet little about Mancherial felt like a small town to me. It is basically a mini-Hyderabad (the major regional capital about five hours away): like every Indian city that I visited, Mancherial has the pervading aura of chai tea and jasmine flowers, of curry powder and roasting chillies, of human urine and burning plastic and prayer incense; the cacophony of honking auto-rickshaws and bellowing trucks and yelling hawkers – in short, the wonders and chaos of urban India. Mancherial has all this (and much more) – just on a smaller scale than Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOLLY HARRISON, ANDREW GALLO, JANE LEWIS, NICOLE BRUNDA, ASHER HILDEBRAND, KEIKO NAMBA, TINA WAHLA AND SUE AZAIEZ.

During the intersession break 2009, WWS graduate students in this spring’s WWS 556f: U.S., The Gulf, and Its Neighbors, travelled to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen along with WWS Diplomat-in-Residence Ambassador Barbara Bodine and Associate Dean Karen McGuiness. During the 10-day visit to the region, the group met with host government officials, US ambassadors and embassy staff, senior US military leaders, and representatives of local and international NGOs to discuss domestic political dynamics, the impact of the global economic crisis, regional security, and their combined impact on and significance for US foreign policy in the region. This photo exhibit is a compilation of photos from the students as well as a brief description of the major lessons learned in each of the countries visited.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY MORGAN COURTNEY

In 2006, I spent six months working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the town of Gisenyi, in the northwest of Rwanda, along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). My work was centered both on collaborating with the refugee youth to provide programming and monitoring the return of Rwandan Hutu, including former combatants, to their homes. Through this, I had access to a unique view of the Great Lakes crisis; I both witnessed the hope of Rwandans returning to their towns and villages, and saw the suffering and dignity of the uprooted Congolese who wanted so desperately to return home.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY MIKE MCCAFFREY

Indigenous people in Bolivia only won the right to vote in the revolution of 1952. Since then they have continued to advocate for equality in a sharply divided society. Evo Morales, an indigenous farmer turned political organizer, emerged to lead the movement, and in late 2005 was elected president of Bolivia. Three years later, on January 25th, 2009, President Morales has passed a new constitution by popular vote. This constitution, while controversial in other respects, represents a clear victory for Indigenous rights. This exhibit honors the diversity and tenacity of Bolivian culture.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY ASHER D. HILDEBRAND

I have chosen the theme of "walls" both because of the ubiquity of physical barriers (both holy and mundane) throughout Israel and Palestine and because of the profound sense of separateness that pervades the two societies after more than sixty years of conflict. My intent is not to make a political statement about the legitimacy of "security barriers" or any other matter; opinions on these questions are best expressed in open debate. My purpose here is simply to offer a glimpse of everyday life as it is lived on both sides of this tragic conflict, unvarnished by prior beliefs or political agendas.

ZAKIRA PHOTOGRAPHY

These photos were taken by children in Lebanon's twelve Palestinian refugee camps through a project of the Lebanese NGO Zakira ("memory"). Zakira's members are all volunteers with an interest in photography and in the condition of Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon. Through this project, Zakira members conducted workshops teaching 500 children in Lebanon's twelve refugee camps basic photography skills. Michael Balz, a masters candidate in the Woodrow Wilson School, was a Zakira member while living in the Middle East. He spent two years in the Arab world, teaching in Egypt, studying in Syria and working in political development in Lebanon.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY LACHLYN SOPER

In February 2008, I had the opportunity to visit Iran as part of a year-long dispatch in the Middle East. With the attention given to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and often fiery rhetoric, I thought it would be illuminating to see the nation for myself. What I saw was a vibrant and modern Persia that cherishes its heritage. Any strike on Iran, no matter what the political or military reasoning employed, would put those ancient and modern treasures at risk.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY RACHEL STEINBERG

This essay tells the story of an outsider looking in on the daily lives of Burmese refugees. These refugees risked their lives to cross from Burma to Thailand to live in Mae Lah and Tham Hin UN refugee camps (run by the International Organization of Migration). I have met adolescents who crossed the jungles alone; families who fled while their village was burning; and wives still waiting for their husbands. The camps are getting more crowded and there are fewer and fewer areas of refuge for the Burmese.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY SIAN MIRANDA SINGH OFAOLAIN

Imizamo Yethu means “through struggle we achieve” in Xhosa, the main language spoken by the township’s residents. The township of Imizamo Yethu was established in 1991 in Cape Town’s wealthy suburb Hout Bay, which was deemed a White area under the 1953 Group Areas Act during Apartheid. Black South Africans who lived in squatter camps in Hout Bay were given public land where the township was to be built. Currently the township is home to an estimated 20,000 people, including many young children, the vast of majority of whom live in informal shacks. The location of the township among privately owned residential estates in Hout Bay hinders access to land and the physical expansion of the township. As a result, the current conditions there put residents at high risk of disease and fire.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY NADEZHDA DIMITROVA SAVOVA

Home is where your heart is, I was once told. For five years, I have traveled diverse places where these words pulsate in hearts connected through music and dance, and the more I explored movement, the more I understood people have a need for an immovable, home-like place to meet and create. This photographic narrative weaves a net(work) of human lives in cultural spaces across five countries: Mexico, Chile, Bulgaria, Brazil, and India, in the chronological order of my work.

Collected since 2001, these images are a few of my favorites. In selecting them, my desire was to simply present some of the photographs that have been especially meaningful to me. They serve in part as a travelogue but also as records of intimate experiences with ecosystems and their wildlife. Privately, I use photography as a tool to combat the distortions that time inflicts on memory, particularly to those ephemeral encounters with an animal or the momentary intersection of sunlight, wind, and weather on a landscape. Publicly, I hope the images convey a sense of the wonderful character of their subjects.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY VANEKA CHAGWEDERA

Within the past ten years, China has experienced a surge of economic growth, ushering in a new era of Sino power. Politically, China has transitioned socialism towards economic liberalism. Economically, she has grown from an agrarian based society to an industrialized powerhouse of production. Socially, she has shifted from a legacy of collectivism towards a new culture of individualism. In essence, China has become a complicated amalgam of oriental tradition and global modernity.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY LEANNE SMITH

I started taking these photographs of children in Afghanistan when I was working as a human rights officer in a field office of the UN Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) in 2005. Working in a field office meant regular trips out into the villages and districts of the provinces I worked in, to investigate human rights complaints or to monitor and report on the human rights situations there. The road trips were a real chance to get to experience the people, culture and countryside that make up Afghanistan. As a female officer, I also had the privileged opportunity to see the largely invisible lives of Afghan women and girls – these experiences were certainly the most rewarding for me.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY BRITT LAKE

Decades of underdevelopment and a brutal 11-year civil war have left Sierra Leone one of the poorest countries in the world. Ranked second to last in the UN’s human development index, Sierra Leone has the highest infant, under-five, and maternal mortality rates in the world. Infrastructure remains poor, as does the country’s public heath and education systems.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY ROB WEISS

Whither China? The rise of the “Middle Kingdom”(zhongguo)has scholars seeking to discover what path lays ahead for China’s society and politics. The rapid changes China has undergone in the last half century—from a centrally-planned economy to barely-checked free market capitalism—have eliminated much of the ideological certainty that characterized the Mao era. As complex social and political forces unfold, such as the decentralization of power, development of a middle class, an ethnically diverse population, will China move towards liberalization?

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY SHANNON M. BRINK

Some three billion people in the developing world rely on wood and other organic fuels for their cooking and heating needs. For those who cook indoors—often on three-stone fires or rustic stoves—soot-blackened walls stand as testaments to long hours spent cooking. The smoke from these stoves contains pollutants that can cause serious health effects including headaches, nausea, vision problems, respiratory ailments, and cancer. The World Health Organization reports that indoor air pollution causes 1.5 million deaths annually; the majority of that burden is borne by women and small children.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY LEDIO CAKAJ

Burundi has been slowly emerging from many years of instability and civil war. In 2000, 13 belligerent parties signed the Arusha Accords to usher in a plan for democracy and elections. A transitional government took over and democratic elections were planned. However, two Hutu rebels groups refused at attend the talks and remained actively engaged in war. In 2003, the largest rebel group, the CNDD-FDD signed the Pretoria Protocols and agreed to a ceasefire and government participation. A smaller Hutu extremist group, the FNL, remained in the bush. In 2005, for the first time since 1993, Burundi held democratic elections and CNDD-FDD leader, Pierre Nkurunziza was elected president.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY NEALIN PARKER

Perched on the western coast of Africa, a few degrees north of the Equator, Liberia is a country of approximately three million people. It was founded by former American slaves and is one of only two countries in Africa never to have been colonized by a European power. Liberia did not escape undemocratic governance, however. From 1822-1847, the country was run by whites under the aegis of the American Colonization Society. With independence came 133 years of rule by the descendents of the former slaves, called “Americo-Liberians,” who represented only a small fraction of the country’s total population. In 1980, Samuel K. Doe, a young indigenous military man, overthrew the government in a bloody coup that set the stage for Liberia’s first civil war (1989-1996). This conflict ended with the election of Charles Taylor, the leader of the largest rebel faction. While the international community judged the election free and fair, such slogans as “He killed my ma. He killed my pa. I’ll vote Charles Taylor!” indicated that intimidation, rather than free choice, largely determined the outcome.