On Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 CSPAN2's Book TV featured Alexandra's NG Live! 10/08 slide show and book talk at the National Geographic Society:
http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9940&SectionName=
On Thursday, February 19, Alexandra and Windows of the Soul were featured in an in-depth interview on Worldview with Jerome McDonnell on Chicago Public Radio, and at a slide show and book signing at FLATEFILE galleries in Chicago: http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=32235
Voice of America TV, Radio and website cover Avakian and Windows of the Soul this month: http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2009-01-21-voa42.cfm and on the V.O.A. program Conference USA worldwide.
For Avakian's blog, gallery, bio, book and more visit: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/photography/windowsofthesoul/
In its January-February 2009 issue, American Photo magazine recognized Windows of the Soul as one of the top photo books of 2008. American Photo Editor in Chief David Schonauer has praised Avakian's photos as "visually adventurous" and her National Geographic blog as "important" and "intriguing" online at: http://stateoftheart.popphoto.com/blog/2008/10/an-important-bo.html
Alexandra is also featured in a full page article in Washingtonian magazine called “Art Among the Ruins”(Feb. 2009 issue, and http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/10942.html ). The article notes that “She's been shot at and beaten. Through it all, this photojournalist captured amazing images of war – and peace.”
During the holidays Windows of the Soul was recommended in O, The Oprah Magazine's Reading Room (Dec.2008 issue) and was listed as #4 on Oprah's online Season's Best Gift Books: http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200812_omag_books/4
Avakian is a Manhattan and Malibu native, yet she chose to live in Gaza for two years, often in Islamic dress, where she was beaten and shot at. She faced murderous militias with loaded guns in Somalia where death can come at anytime, captured the cold, crazed stare of a gun-toting child, the anguish of families bereaved by terrorism, the beauty of festivities and everyday happiness of Muslims from Kyrgystan to California. She has traveled with refugees, diplomats, guerillas, and leaders, including Palestinian Yasser Arafat, who called her “dictator” yet gave her rare access for many years. She spent eight weeks with Hezbollah, the highly secretive radical organization and has traveled widely in some of the most repressive regimes in the world. She admits feeling fear in some situations, but that paled against her great desire to record the human struggle for freedom and the willingness of people to risk their lives to gain it.
In the book's foreword, John M. Fahey Jr., president and CEO of the National Geographic Society, recalls his first meeting with Avakian. “The photographs she brought to us were striking for their directness, their chaotic authenticity, and their human feeling. Perhaps most impressive of all to me was the fact that Alex was obviously willing to face enormous danger to get these great pictures.”
A senior member of the prestigious Contact Press Images photo agency in New York . Her work has been published in National Geographic, Time, The New York Times Magazine and many other publications. She lives near Washington , D.C.
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