ATHENS, Ohio -- Photographs from "Living Faith: Inside the Muslim World of Southeast Asia," a book by photojournalist Steve Raymer, will be on exhibit in the Lindley Cultural Center at Ohio University from June 2 to 30.
The exhibit has been organized by Ohio University's Southeast Asian Studies Program to coincide with a Summer Humanities Teachers' Institute on Islam planned for late June by the Center for International Studies.
According to Polly Sandenburgh, Director of Outreach for the Center for International Studies, "One of the legacies of Sept. 11 is that strong feelings, fears and misconceptions about Islam and Muslims are never far below the surface. It is now more important than ever to build understanding about this world religion."
To create "Living Faith" veteran National Geographic photographer Steve Raymer traveled throughout Southeast Asia, home to one of the world's largest Muslim populations, to highlight ordinary life in the cities and villages. Over 170 color photographs show how Muslims in the area are living, raising their families, practicing their faith, and looking ahead, as are we all to an uneasy future.
Professor Steve Raymer, a National Geographic staff photographer for more than two decades, teaches photojournalism, media ethics and international newsgathering at Indiana University in Bloomington. He is also on the faculty of the university's Russian and East European Institute.
Raymer earned B.S. and M.A. degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and studied Soviet and Russian affairs at Stanford University as a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow. He joined the staff of National Geographic in 1972, launching a career that has taken him to more than 85 countries. From famines in Bangladesh and Ethiopia to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Raymer's photographs have illustrated some 30 National Geographic articles. From 1991 to 1995,
Raymer also was the director of the National Geographic Society News Service, a joint venture with The New York Times and the AssociatedPress. He has received a citation for excellence in foreign reportingfrom the Overseas Press Club and is a four-time winner of first-prizeawards from the White House News Photographers' Association.
Raymer shared many of his photographs with participants at OhioUniversity's April conference Children & Islam: Faith and SocialChange in African and Southeast Asia through a presentation entitled"Putting a Human Face on Southeast Asian Islam."
The exhibit of photographs from "Living Faith: Inside the Muslim World of Southeast Asia" is sponsored by Ohio University's Southeast AsianStudies Program with support from Asia Images Group. To view imagesfrom the book visit www.steveraymer.com.
Lindley Cultural Center is located in Lindley Hall on South Court Street in Athens. The galleryis open to the public at no charge Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
