Photojournalist Lynsey Addario has been in most of the important war and conflict zones of the 21st century. Places like Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Darfur, Republic of Congo and more, often right in the hairiest parts. She has taken moving photos for The New York Times, Time, Newsweek and National Geographic. She has been groped, injured and abducted, dodged bullets and seen horrific violence but somehow maintained enough cool to survive and record moments of visceral beauty and importance, creating a vital record of human struggle, focussed mainly on the plight of women in these war-torn societies. Her presentation for UCSB Arts & Lectures was a deceptively breezy account of many of her exploits, but the story she told and the photos she showed confirmed her steely resolve to pursue her dangerous profession in the name of creating compelling imagery and showing the world what’s happening to so many of the powerless.
