As part of the Quick Center’s Open VISIONS Forum, Lynsey Addario will present “Eyewitness Through My Camera Lens: Worlds in Conflict” on Monday, December 9 at 8 p.m. The event is the second in the Quick Center’s new Women and Leadership series, presented by Bank of America and designed to open minds and celebrate female leaders around the world.   

Raised in Westport, Conn. and a 1991 graduate of Staples High School, Addario’s work regularly appears in The New York Times, National Geographic, and Time magazine.  She has won countless awards and distinctions, including the MacArthur Fellowship, a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, and an Emmy Award.  

Addario has been witness to the world’s most urgent humanitarian and human rights crises, and has traveled to dangerous and remote corners of the world to capture visual testimony. Her images and stories shine a spotlight on humanity and resilience, with subject matter ranging from Afghanistan under the Taliban immediately before and after the 9/11 attacks, to western Sudan in the aftermath of genocide in Darfur, to the female U.S. Marine experience, and the current U.S. immigration crisis.

In her relentless pursuit of truth, Addario has been kidnapped twice in international battle zones. She has witnessed the loss of lives and has been in danger of losing her own. As she shared in her 2016 memoir, It’s What I Do:  A Photographer’s Life of Love and War, the impact of her work makes it impossible for her to stop. 

Addario explained her approach, “At the end of the day, a compelling story will get people’s attention, but if you just bombard people with images of violence, they’re not gonna care. It’s about humanizing the story. It’s about showing an intimate view and giving people a way to enter the story and to care. That takes more time and it’s hard to do.”

“We live in the age of social media, and we’re bombarded by thousands of images every day. So you have to figure out how to make your work stand out. I try to do a different take on a scene. What is interesting to me is going to places that people have forgotten about,” she noted in an interview with Vanity Fair.

A New York Times bestselling author, Addario’s most recent book, Of Love and War (2018), is a stunning and personally curated selection of her work relating to the devastating impact of human conflict and struggle across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. 

The Open VISIONS Forum event is generously presented by Bank of America, and is also sponsored by Abbey Tent & Party Rentals, Moffly Media, Delamar Restaurant, and Delamar Spa. Tickets are $40 and Quick Members are $30. For more information or to reserve your seat, visit www.quickcenter.com or call the box office at 203-254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396.