SDN exhibit press release

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release

August 16, 2011

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT OPENS August 20, 2011

“TEN YEARS AFTER 9/11: SEARCHING FOR A 21ST CENTURY LANDSCAPE”

Curated by SocialDocumentary.net

Contacts for reviews, interviews, high resolution photographs:

Barbara Ayotte, (617) 549-0152, bayotte@socialdocumentary.net or

Glenn Ruga (617) 417-5981, glenn@socialdocumentary.net

Photographers Garth Lenz and Michael Robinson Chavez will be present at opening reception.

Press Interviews 6:30-7pm, Sep. 10 or by appointment.

WHO: Featuring Work from SocialDocumentary.net’s “Ten Years After 9/11” Call for Entries

First Prize Winner: Garth Lenz (Canada)

Honorable Mentions: Michael Robinson Chávez (United States), Florian Büttner (Germany), Michael Busse (Germany)

WHERE: powerHouse Arena, 37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY

August 20-September 16, 2011, Opening Reception September 10, 2011

“We asked photographers to document the first decade after 9/11. Four critical and interconnected themes emerged from the winning entries: the scramble to secure sources of oil despite a high cost to the environment; the Arab Spring’s ongoing struggle to fight for governments that truly serve their people; the growing disparity between rich and poor; and the alienation of the individual placed under these pressures,” said Glenn Ruga, founder of SocialDocumentary.net and one of the judges of the Call to Entries.

Judges included: Award winning photographers Ed Kashi, Lori Grinker, Nina Berman, and Tomasz Tomaszewski (winner of the 2010 SDN Call for Entries); Fred Ritchin of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts; Amy Yenkin, director of the Open Society Institute’s Documentary Photography Project and Ruga.

SYNCRUDE UPGRADER AND TAR SANDS / Alberta Tar Sands | 2005

The refining or upgrading of the tarry bitumen which lies under the Tar Sands consumes far more water and energy than conventional oil and produces almost twice as much carbon. Photo by Garth Lenz.

Canada’s Tar Sands and the True Cost of Oil

Photographs by Garth Lenz

Garth Lenz’s photography tells stories of environmental issues, threatened wilderness regions, devastation, and the impact on indigenous peoples. His work has appeared in leading publications such as Time Magazine, The Guardian, The New York Times,International Wildlife, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Canadian Geographic, GEO and others.

This series of photographs documents The Alberta Tar Sands, one of the world’s most environmentally damaging and toxic projects. The Tar Sands represent the world’s second largest source of oil and are America’s single largest source of oil. Since September 11, 2001, the resulting high cost and demand for non-Middle Eastern oil energy by the US has promoted the creation of this massive development. The neighboring Peace Athabasca Delta, the world’s largest freshwater delta, and the surrounding boreal forest, are being systematically destroyed to mine the tar that lies underneath

Click here to view the exhibit.