Platon and The Defenders: Heroes of the Global Fight for Human Rights
Friday, February 28, 2025, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
conversation and book signing
Join world-renowned portrait photographer Platon for an exploration of his newest book, The Defenders: Heroes of the Global Fight for Human Rights (2024). Celebrating human rights activists on their pursuit of justice, The Defenders is a powerful collection of photo essays spanning 15 years of work in Burma, Egypt, Russia, the United States, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Platon is a Peabody-award winning photographer known for his instantly recognizable portraits of world leaders and celebrities. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. In 2013, he founded The People’s Portfolio, an organization telling the story of emerging human rights defenders and the people they serve. His short film, My Body Is Not A Weapon, features survivors of wartime sexual violence and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege, who spoke at Grace Farms in 2019.
In 2023, he was the keynote speaker for the 3rd Annual Design for Freedom Summit at Grace Farms.
[The Defenders] encourages the viewer to embrace the definition of power in all its forms, with a focus son amplifying the voices of those fighting for a more just world.
Katharine Pomerantz, TIME
