Auction Will Raise Money for Documentary Photography

FEBRUARY 20, 2010 at THE STEPHEN COHEN GALLERY

Actor and photographer Aaron Eckhart, will join Julia Dean, founder of the Julia Dean Photo Workshops, for an exhibit and silent auction of more than 100 iconic images taken by leading photographers from around the world at the Stephen Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles on February 20, 2010.

A combine harvests wheat shortly after sunset just west of town on an early summer evening. Agriculture is still a mainstay of life in Red Cloud, Neb., though the size of the farms and cost of production have grown drastically, making small family farms a thing of the past.

The auction will feature images from such nationally and internationally known photographers as Alex Webb, Art Streiber, Brian Lanker, David Hume Kennerly, Don Barletti, Douglas Kirkland, Gerd Ludwig, Greg Gorman, Mary Ellen Mark, Nevada Wier, Phil Borges, Robert Farber, Ron Haviv and Sam Abell. Included in the auction will also be Jeff Haller’s 2006 image entitled “Wheat Harvest,” a photograph from Haller’s Somewhere in the Middle of America: Life in a Prairie Town project.

The auction will benefit Project 5: Photography for Social Change, which supports talented photojournalists and builds documentary photography through grants, exhibits and publications. (See images: http://www.photo4change.org/silentauction.html.)

Project 5’s silent auctions will raise money for a five-year series of photo documentary projects on five pressing social issues: child labor, educational access, health care, immigration, economic globalization. The February 2010 auction will raise funds to complete Dean’s current collaborative project, Child Labor and the Global Village.

“Photographers look through their lenses at society and the environment, but they also see through their hearts,” says Dean, the Los Angeles documentary photographer who founded Project 5. “As the economy takes a toll on the traditional patrons of documentary photography, such as newspapers and magazines, new support is needed. We must not lose a generation of important stories.”

Pre-viewing: Photographs will be available for pre-viewing on Friday and Saturday (February19 & 20) prior to the auction. The $50 entrance ticket will be counted toward the price of a photograph. Tickets can be purchased in advance. Call 310-392-0909 or write to  julia[at]photo4change.org.

February 20, 2010, 7:00-10:00 P.M.

The Stephen Cohen Gallery, 7358 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 Valet parking available.

Photo4Change –  www.photo4change.org – 801 Ocean Front Walk, Studio 8, Venice CA 90291 – ph: 310-392-0909 – fx: 310-664-0809

Contact: Julia Dean or Agi Magyari
310-392-0909
Info[at]photo4change.org or Julia[at]photo4change.org