tuvalu rising nations initiative
Keenan Newman | Photographer & Filmmaker | work sample
---
biography
From the Alaskan tundra to the West Bank, Keenan Newman has spent the past 15-years working alongside community organizers all over the world to create art that celebrates what we are capable of when we truly see one another. Our differences are what unite us, they are what make us stronger, and more whole – they are also what enable us to confront our most pressing challenges, to build bridges over borders, and to come up with innovative solutions that save lives. Through film and photography, Newman seeks to create a space where celebrating our differences is accessible and meaningful. He attempts to empower grounded, passionate voices that inspire us by confronting our most trying challenges with courage, empathy, faith and collaboration.
---
SYRIA STREET | .GIF-based JOURNALISM for icrc
In 2016, Newman collaborated with visual artist Brandon Tauszik & the International Committee for the Red Cross to photograph a GIF-based journalism project called 'Syria Street.’ The goal of the project was to invite the world to listen, to hear the voices, to learn from the stories of families living in conflict; families whose bravery, struggle and humanity are too often reduced to statistics. Newman worked alongside the leadership of mothers, children, shop-owners and community organizers living near Syria Street: one road that connects & divides a decades-long conflict in Tripoli, Lebanon.
---
newtok, alaska | cinematographer | feature length documentary film
The Yup’ik village of Newtok, Alaska is sinking into the arctic mud due to warming weather, thawing permafrost and increasingly intense coastal erosion. Scientists predict that the village will be entirely underwater by 2025, though heavy storm activity in the region could overwhelm the village even before that date. Newtok is one of the first communities in the United States that has been forced to relocate as a result of climate change. In 2019, Newman spent 6-months in Newtok working alongside Yup’ik leadership and two New York Times journalists (Michael Kirby Smith & Andrew Burton) on a feature-length documentary following the story of Newtok’s relocation effort. The film was completed under the guidance of Producer Marie Meade, a Yup’ik tradition bearer and Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is currently in post-production.
---
“road on a ledge” | photo journalism
“Road on a Ledge” is an ongoing independent photo journalism project documenting the Corniche Distrcit in Beirut, Lebanon. The project shares intimate images of vitality, struggle, joy, heartbreak, love, conflict and potential – all anchored in one powerful & unlikely beacon of peace: a promenade in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon.
