WATER, WOMEN, AND WELLS
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Prize
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PhotographerGIL GARCETTI, United States
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Website
WOMEN AND GIRLS ARE REQUIRED TO WALK MILES EVERYDAY TO FETCH WHAT IS USUALLY CONTAMINATED WATER. NEW BORE HOLE WELLS NOT ONLY BRING SAFE WATER, THEY BRING NEW ECONOMIC VITALITY TO THE VILLAGE AND GIVE GIRLS THEIR FIRST CHANCE TO GO TO SCHOOL.
Gil has spent much of his life as an urban photographer. His first photo book, IRON: ERECTING THE WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, November 2002, received much critical praise in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other publications. The photographs emphasize the contribution of the ironworkers to the building of America as well as the beauty of the curved, angled, and bent steel of this building.
His second book, FROZEN MUSIC, November 2003, has been featured in multi page features in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, American Photo, Newsweek, Time, Harvard Design Magazine, California Lawyer and other magazines. It focuses on the abstract art created by the finished building.
At the 2006 Ben Franklin Awards, judges said Gil?s DANCE IN CUBA , October 2004, ? . . . is an exquisite, extraordinary volume.? His goal with this book of black and white photos is to show the world the spirit of the Cuban people through their dance. It is one of the few photo books to ever make the Los Angeles Times best-seller list.
THE CLOSER, (June 2006, Balcony Press) is a photo book that explains what it takes to put a successful television series on the air. Gil is the show?s consulting producer.
WATER IS KEY, October 2007, is a book about water, women, and wells in West Africa. It is a call to action to the industrialized world to become involved through NGOs in the region where plentiful supplies of safe water exist, but where nations do not have the resources to bring the safe water to their people. PEOPLE magazine (Oct 8, 2007) featured the book and the Christian Science Monitor devoted a full page to Gil?s efforts in West Africa. (Oct 18, 2007)
Gil has had solo exhibitions at the United Nations, New York city, National Building Museum, Washington D.C., Millennium Art Museum, Beijing China, UCLA Fowler Museum, Virginia Center for Architecture, New York Public Library for Performing Arts, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Barnsdall Art Park Municipal Gallery, Los Angeles County Music Center, the University of Southern California, UCLA, VIVA, the San Francisco Commonwealth Club, and other institutions.
In 2003, American Photo, named Gil one of the country?s four master photographers. TIME magazine profiled Gil in a two-page article about his change from ?high profile D.A. to stylish photographer.? Photographs that ? . . . are at once haunting and joyful.? (October 2005) The television program, CBS SUNDAY MORNING, featured a segment in May 2006 about Gil in his new role as a critically acclaimed photographer. NPR and other electronic media have recently aired interviews of Gil in his role as photographer.
In addition to his photography, Gil taught at Harvard University?s Kennedy School of Government. As a Fellow at the Institute of Politics, Gil taught a seminar entitled ?The Interaction of the Criminal Justice System, Race, Politics and the Media.? He was the Los Angeles County District Attorney 1992-2000. (www.garcetti.com)
