ASMP NorCal Presents: Valley of Shadows and Dreams An Evening with Ken and Melanie Light September 11, 2012

ASMP NorCal Presents: Valley of Shadows and Dreams
An Evening with Ken and Melanie Light

Valley of Shadows and Dreams
Several years ago, Ken and Melanie Light embarked on a five-year photographic journey of a region known for its agricultural plenty – and the marginalization of its people. In their book, Valley of Shadows and Dreams, the Lights dig deep into the harsh truths of farm workers’ daily experiences in California’s Central Valley and take a hard look at the legacies of politics, bureaucracy and control in the region.

The second collaboration between photographer Ken Light and author Melanie Light, the project began when Melanie was researching background information on Hansel Mieth, one of the first woman photographers at Life Magazine and a politically active social documentary photographer in the 1930s and 1940s.

Pouring through old, loopy letters made with a fountain pen, and scrolling through microfiche of the lettuce strike in Tulare, the vast acreage suddenly teemed with life and history. Astonished by the frenzy of development, including massive tracts of agricultural land being turned into cul de sacs and suburban neighborhoods, the Lights discovered a complex web that went far beyond residential development.

Witnessing the real estate bubble implode in the valley, the Lights expanded their story to what they can only describe as a slow motion train wreck of unsustainability. The Lights soon found the project gripping at many levels, primarily because the issues being played out in the valley, American style, happen to be the global challenges of our generation: water, land use, population, and growing economic disparity.

http://valleyofshadowsanddreams.com/

Join us on September 11th, on the campus of UC Berkeley, for a lively presentation and discussion with Ken and Melanie Light, as they discuss how they took an idea about California's Central Valley and created a unique project and collaboration between photographer and writer. Ken and Melanie will discuss the process of editing and creating the book, finding a publisher, and raising money, all while producing a living, breathing, editorial project that includes a book, DVD, print media, and museum exhibitions (including a current exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California).

Ken and Melanie will have books on hand for sale at $45 each.
About the Speakers

Ken and Melanie Light
Ken Light’s published work includes Coal Hollow, Witness in Our Time, Texas Death Row, Delta Time, To the Promised Land, and With These Hands. He has exhibited internationally and received numerous grants and awards including three NEA grants and the Dorothea Lange Fellowship. He is currently a professor and director of the Center for Photography at the University of California, Berkeley and a Laventhol visiting professor at Columbia University.

Melanie Light’s most recent publication is Coal Hollow. Her other work includes special-edition books. Among them are Night at the Met, with photographs by Larry Fink, and Mad Day Out, with photos of the Beatles. She was the founding executive director of Fotovision, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the international community of documentary photographers, and is the recipient of grants from the Soros Documentary Fund and the Rosenberg Foundation. Light teaches and lectures internationally.

Date:
Tuesday, September 11
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Social time starts at 6:30 p.m.

Cost:
FREE to members
$5 students
$10 affiliates, including APA and BATW
$15 non-members

Venue:
U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Northgate Hall, Room 105
Berkeley, CA
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/misc/directions

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