Dentist-turned-photographer Phil Borges documents the world's disappearing cultures, capturing portraits of exiled Tibetan monks and embattled tribes in the Amazon. He is the founder of Bridges to Understanding, which teaches digital storytelling to teenagers.
Why you should listen to him:
Spurred by the rapid disappearance of the world's indigenous peoples and their oral traditions, Phil Borges abandoned his dentistry practice to pursue his first love, photography. For the past 25 years, he has traveled to the farthest reaches of the globe to meet with persecuted Tibetan monks engaged in nonviolent struggle and embattled tribespeople of the Ecuadorian Amazon who must defend their way of life by any means necessary. Through interviews and portraiture, Borges documents his subjects and their tribulations with dignity, and conveys their rarely heard stories.
He is a co-founder of Blue Earth Alliance, which sponsors photographic projects focusing on endangered cultures and threatened environments, and the founder of Bridges to Understanding, an interactive online classroom that promotes cross-cultural learning between indigenous and American youths. By teaching teenagers how to share stories through digital filmmaking, Borges hopes they'll develop the mental flexibility and cultural sensitivity to understand and appreciate belief systems outside their own.
"Phil Borges' images, filled with dignity, often are reminiscent of portraits of nobility by Velázquez. ... The photographer imbues images of children with the respect and compassion he believes they deserve, yet too seldom receive."OC Weekly
Blog Posts on TED
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Web-based ways to make a difference – January 1, 2008
To help those of us making resolutions this week, here is a sampling of web tools for making a difference, inspired by TEDTalks speakers: + Share Ron Eglash's cool math tools, for studying math via breakdancing, Latin beats and cornrow braids + Dive into Richard Baraniuk's Connexions, a massive repository of open-source class materials + Visit Phil Borges' Bridges to Understanding site, which rounds up student films from all over the world + Browse Erin McKean's booklist "So You Want to Be a Lexicographer?" + Check out the beta of Gapminder World, powered by Hans Rosling's Trendalyzer software + Watch video and take action at The Hub, a platform for human rights media and action -- presented by Peter Gabriel's WITNESS + Discuss sustainable design and materials on the Cradle to Cradle forums, inspired by the work of William McDonough + Learn more about Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop per Child + Catch up with Majora Carter's Sustainable South Bronx -- or make a specific gift to SSBx via Changing the Present + Calculate your personal CO2 production -- and start helping the planet -- at the website for Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, produced by Jeff Skoll TEDTalks is full of ideas for making change for oneself and for others -- many more than we can list here. Please share your suggestions for other TEDTalks-inspired change!
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Phil Borges Reception in San Francisco – November 12, 2007
If you happen to be in the Bay Area Wednesday night, November 14, TED2006 Speaker Phil Borges has a gallery reception in San Francisco and you're invited: FiftyCrows Gallery 49 Geary Street, Second Floor, Suite 225 From 6 PM to 9 PM. An RSVP is required, send an email to goodevents@goodmagazine.com. Here the flyer:
