Alison Wright photographer logo
  • Collections
    • Documentary
    • Humanitarian
    • Human Tribe: Global Portraits
    • Commercial
    • The Dalai Lama
  • Image Galleries
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Editioned Prints
    • Fine Art Prints
    • Wall Hanging Tapestry Weavings
  • Public Speaking
  • Workshops
  • News/Events
  • About
    • About Alison
    • Press
    • Faces of Hope
    • Human Tribe Video
  • Contact
  • galleries
  • search
  • invites & lightboxes
  • cart 
  • account
  • client area

Face to Face: Portraits of the Human Spirit  
(184 images)

  • image description
    image description
  • The Dalai Lama blessing his guard holding a rifle <br /> Dharamsala, India 1998<br /> I first met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1988 and have had the great fortune to photograph him a number of times over the years. I’ve always enjoyed our conversations but sometimes it’s his gestures that hold the most meaning. One day we were walking through the lovely bamboo shaded lane from his home to his office as we passed one of his ever-present guards. Suddenly the Dalai Lama stopped. Placing one hand on the soldier’s hand holding the rifle, he chanted a prayer and moved on. I quickly lifted my camera and managed to take one frame. The guard simply beamed.
    The Dalai Lama blessing his guard holding a rifle Dharamsala, India...
  • Omo Valley, Ethiopia<br /> Goite, woman from Hamer Tribe. <br /> This woman is from the Hamer tribe in Ethiopia. You can tell from the metal collar adornment on her neck that she’s married. I was photographing Goite’s husband as he was shooting their cow in the neck with an arrow and bleeding him to mix with milk, a high source of protein in their diet. I turned and she was staring from the dark of her hut. Sometimes the best photo is behind you.
    Omo Valley, Ethiopia Goite, woman from Hamer Tribe. This woman is...
  • Omo Valley, Ethiopia<br /> Girl from the Hamer tribe holding a gourd. <br /> There are over 200,000 people living among the fifty unique tribes in the Omo Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980. Each of the tribes has their own costumes, traditions and even language.
    Omo Valley, Ethiopia Girl from the Hamer tribe holding a gourd....
  • Dahanu Valley, Ladakh, northern India.<br /> Man from Drokpa tribe wearing flowers. <br /> For generations this small group of men and woman have traditionally worn elaborate flowers their hair. The first time I went to photograph in this area, the locals were working in the fields, singing and plucking apples from the trees. Women stopped to pass me flowers from their headdresses. When I returned three or four years later, very few people were wearing their flowered hats. In a desire to be dressed in more modern western clothing many villagers have taken to wearing baseball caps. It’s a shame they didn’t have mirrors in their homes to appreciate how beautiful they actually looked.
    Dahanu Valley, Ladakh, northern India. Man from Drokpa tribe wearing...
  • Monks at Bayon Temple, Angkor, Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge killed more than two million monks, doctors, artists, judges, teachers, musicians-anyone with an education. In 1991, after twenty-five years of genocide and civil war, an international peace treaty was finally signed to create a free democratic nation.
    Monks at Bayon Temple, Angkor, Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge killed more...
  • Monk from Lhonnagon Monastery <br /> near Kandze, Kham, Tibet 2005.
    Monk from Lhonnagon Monastery near Kandze, Kham, Tibet 2005.
  • Kham,Tibet,<br /> I have traveled to Tibet nearly every year for the last twenty years. On this trip I was driving in the remote eastern region of the Tibetan Plateau when I saw this young girl, part of a crowd returning from a horse festival. It was pouring rain, so I brought her to a nearby school to take her photograph She was so small that the light from the window barely reached her; I had to stand her on a desk. Even at the age of four, she had a face that seemed to express the underlying sadness of a culture that has been so challenged. Yet she had a look of resilience and tenacity beyond her years.
    Kham,Tibet, I have traveled to Tibet nearly every year for the last...
  • Sisters, Bhaktapur, Nepal.<br /> A young girl carries her sister on her back.
    Sisters, Bhaktapur, Nepal. A young girl carries her sister on her back.
  • Butterfly dancer<br /> Mazatlan, Mexico 2009.
    Butterfly dancer Mazatlan, Mexico 2009.
  • Tibet, Kham, 2005 Tibetan nomad boy in Degang Valley, near Litang. This sweet little nomad boy hovers close to his mother in their traditional yak hair tent as he helps her make the tea.
    Tibet, Kham, 2005 Tibetan nomad boy in Degang Valley, near Litang. This...
  • Guadalajara, Mexico. A proud young cowboy at the Charreada Rodeo <br /> evoked a romantic and timeless image as he prepared to head out to ride in the rodeo. He performed exceptionally well that night, tirelessly roping cattle as the crowds cheered him on.
    Guadalajara, Mexico. A proud young cowboy at the Charreada Rodeo...
  • Agore, boy with painted dots, Erbore tribe <br /> Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2006.<br /> There are over 200,000 people living among the fifty unique tribes in the Omo Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980. Each of the tribes has their own costumes, traditions and even language.
    Agore, boy with painted dots, Erbore tribe Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2006....
  • Kara from Tsemey tribe wearing conch shells <br /> Kuka Village, Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2006
    Kara from Tsemey tribe wearing conch shells Kuka Village, Omo Valley,...
  • Young girl in Turmi <br /> Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2006
    Young girl in Turmi Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2006
  • Ivi in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2010.<br /> From photographing the poverty stricken favelas to the flamboyant Carnaval preparations and the tribes lined along the Amazon River to the scantily clad beach revelers, I found Brazil to be a land of endless visual contrasts. Ivi, a local girl, caught my eye walking around the Santa Teresa Hotel.
    Ivi in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2010. From photographing the poverty...
  • Trinidad, Cuba. Juan Bastida on his 83rd birthday. Juan galloped up on his horse looking like Cuba central casting with that leaf behind his ear and a cigar hanging from his mouth. He looked so happy and spry that I couldn’t resist asking to take his picture. He told me it was his 83rd birthday. After I shot his photo I invited him to have a celebratory birthday drink on me.
    Trinidad, Cuba. Juan Bastida on his 83rd birthday. Juan galloped up on...
  • Jade Mountain Resort, St. Lucia. <br /> On a shoot for Islands magazine at Jade Mountain Resort my room not only had an infinity pool but the lack of walls offered a magnificent view of the Grand Pitons. Asking this good-looking guy to take his shirt off and jump in my pool is just a perk of the job.
    Jade Mountain Resort, St. Lucia. On a shoot for Islands magazine at...
  • Komomo, a maiko applying lipstick <br /> Kyoto, Japan, 2005.<br /> Komomo is still an apprentice maiko, (“dance child” or “half-jewel”) and as part of her training spends twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for about five years studying the formal arts such as dance, music, poetry. She follows her onee-san in the evenings but is paid considerably less than a geisha.
    Komomo, a maiko applying lipstick Kyoto, Japan, 2005. Komomo is still...
  • Kyoto, Japan. Komomo, a maiko with umbrella. This girl is an apprentice maiko, Komomo or “little peach,” in training with her onee-san “older sister.” Yachiho-san is a fully trained geisha, or geiko as Kyoto’s geisha are known. I was invited to enter the mysterious world of these artisans and access some private time with the girls as they prepared for their evening.
    Kyoto, Japan. Komomo, a maiko with umbrella. This girl is an...
  • Yachiho-san, a geisha and Komomo, an apprentice maiko<br /> Kyoto, Japan, 2005. As geisha, Yachiho-san and Komomo’s job is to entertain clients with their elegant beauty and talents. Here in their traditional giesha house or okiya, dressing for the evening is time consuming. As their kimonos can weigh up to thirty pounds and trail twenty-five feet in length the girls have a strong male dresser to help. Once becoming a geisha the maiko cuts her hair and then dons a wig instead of wearing this elaborate hairstyle with her own hair.
    Yachiho-san, a geisha and Komomo, an apprentice maiko Kyoto, Japan,...
  • Kyoto, Japan. Sanbon Ashi decoration on a geisha’s sensual neck. In traditional Japanese aesthetics the most alluring part of a woman is the nape of her neck. Sanbon Ashi is special design of unpainted skin on the back of the neck.
    Kyoto, Japan. Sanbon Ashi decoration on a geisha’s sensual neck. In...
  • Nomad girl in orange hat <br /> Kham, Tibet 2005.<br /> I’ve long been infatuated with the headwear of the various Tibetan tribes. When I spotted a woman in the countryside wearing one of these bright orange wool hats I asked my driver to find out where she was from. It was a long trek to get out to her village and was especially challenging as we had to cross a valley flooded by a raging river. I wasn’t sure if this was just this one woman’s personal fashion statement but as we entered the valley we were greeted by a sea of fuzzy orange hats. They resembled human Q-tips or characters from a Dr. Suess book. Of course I now own one myself.
    Nomad girl in orange hat Kham, Tibet 2005. I’ve long been infatuated...
  • Woman with blue eyes <br /> Port-au-Prince, Haiti 2010.<br /> I was on assignment for Smithsonian Magazine photographing the destroyed art after the earthquake in Haiti. Having previously covered the disaster, the destruction of so many thousands of paintings and sculptures was a whole new sadness I hadn’t realized during my initial visit. I had been photographing in a gallery and this woman passed by me just as I was leaving. Her beauty among such devastation was like seeing a lotus flower blossom from the mud.
    Woman with blue eyes Port-au-Prince, Haiti 2010. I was on assignment...
  • Melese Anawte, an Orthodox Christian priest at Bet Meskel Church, Lalibela, Omo Valley, Ethiopia 2006
    Melese Anawte, an Orthodox Christian priest at Bet Meskel Church,...
  • Girls waiting in the predawn of the Timkat festival in Lalibela, Ethiopia 2006.<br /> Two girls giggle conspiratorially in the early predawn hours of the Orthodox Christian Timkat festival. On this particular day of week long rituals and festivities the crowds gather to await being sprinkled with the blessed waters from the reinactment of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.
    Girls waiting in the predawn of the Timkat festival in Lalibela,...
  • Boy in traditional kimono, Yamanobe, Japan 2005 (R)
    Boy in traditional kimono, Yamanobe, Japan 2005 (R)
  • Three Tibetan Buddhist monks at Dip-Tse-Chok-Ling Monastery <br /> Dharamsala, India 1998.<br /> With more than 6500 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries destroyed in Tibet after the 1959 Chinese invasion many of the monks and lamas have fled their homeland. New monasteries such as Dip-Tse-Chok-Ling Monastery in Dharamsala India have been rebuilt to house the exiled refugees and the new generation of enthusiastic young monks.
    Three Tibetan Buddhist monks at Dip-Tse-Chok-Ling Monastery...
  • Young Buddhist pilgrim, Degang Valley, Kham, Tibet 2006 .
    Young Buddhist pilgrim, Degang Valley, Kham, Tibet 2006 .
  • Shinto priest, Kyosan, Japan 2005.<br /> A Shinto priest stands among the Tori gates of his shrine. Shinto, “the way of the gods,” is considered to be the indigenous spirituality of Japan’s people and remains to be the most popular of the country’s religion besides Buddhism.
    Shinto priest, Kyosan, Japan 2005. A Shinto priest stands among the Tori...
  • Samten, eighty-two-year old Buddhist nun <br /> Punakha Valley, Bhutan 2008.To earn good merit Samten circumambulates around Kamsun Yuly Namgyal Monastery every day.
    Samten, eighty-two-year old Buddhist nun Punakha Valley, Bhutan 2008.To...
  • Fifteen-year-old girl posing in her Quinceanera dress <br /> Havana, Cuba 2009.<br /> A young girl celebrates her fifteenth birthday as it marks her transition from childhood to womanhood. I was touched by the pride that each of these two people were feeling through their accomplishments. In one image this fifteen-year-old girl poses in her fluffy egg-yolk yellow Quinceanera dress, while just a few feet away, the fisherman has just caught a fish that he later told me fed his extended family for two nights.
    Fifteen-year-old girl posing in her Quinceanera dress Havana, Cuba...
  • Young pilgrim in sneakers, Litang, Kham, Tibet 2006 .
    Young pilgrim in sneakers, Litang, Kham, Tibet 2006 .
  • Fisherman with his prized catch of the day <br /> Havana, Cuba 2009.<br /> I like to photograph people with something that has particular importance to them. Once I asked a Tibetan man if I could photograph him with his wife.<br /> “My wife?! I want to be photographed with my pig,” he told me. Since then I’ve never made assumptions as to what might have exceptional meaning to someone else.
    Fisherman with his prized catch of the day Havana, Cuba 2009. I like...
  • School boy in yellow sneakers, Kabul, Afghanistan 2007.
    School boy in yellow sneakers, Kabul, Afghanistan 2007.
  • Man bagging coal in the backstreets of Amritsar, Punjab, India 2011.
    Man bagging coal in the backstreets of Amritsar, Punjab, India 2011.
  • Young girl in the street of Kabul, Afghanistan 2007.
    Young girl in the street of Kabul, Afghanistan 2007.
  • Gulmit, Hunza Valley, Pakistan.<br /> I met this school girl who radiated an engaging innocence, while hiking in the remote mountainous region along the Karakoram highway. She was on her way to school, but not all children are so lucky. Although half the Pakistani population is under the age of fifteen, only a quarter of its children are educated.
    Gulmit, Hunza Valley, Pakistan. I met this school girl who radiated an...
  • A boy awaits prosthetics the Red Cross Center for Rehabilitation after losing his legs to a landmine, Kabul, Afghanistan 2007.<br /> Every twenty-two minutes someone somewhere in the world is maimed or killed by a landmine. Children are frequently the victims. The Red Cross Center for Rehabilitation has six centers across the country of Afghanistan, and they have treated 39,000 cases in Kabul alone. There is a staff of about 500 and everyone that works there has been affected by war. Many have lost appendages themselves, mostly from landmines.
    A boy awaits prosthetics the Red Cross Center for Rehabilitation after...
  • Mother who lost her three children to the sea when the tsunami hit <br /> Batticola, Sri Lanka 2005.<br /> Of the 8,000 residents of Batticaloa, 5,000 died. That’s 60 percent of its population. The once-thriving beach-front village was surrounded by a lagoon so there was nowhere to run when the giant wave hit, just into more water. Saris and clothing were left embedded in the barbed wire set up to protect against wild animals, where many of the bodies were trapped in its grip. A few remnants were scattered: cooking pots, photographs with cracked glass, clocks stopped when the wave hit at 9:22, Buddhist statues which mysteriously remained standing. But mostly there was just rubble. Everywhere had its own ghosts. <br /> I viewed the beach, cluttered with personal effects. Human bones had started to wash up. A woman walked alongside me who appeared to be in shock. As I turned to ask if she was all right she began madly gesticulating toward the sea, indicating that it had taken her two children. She, as so many I encountered, now lived with the image of seeing her family swept away and struggled with the profound guilt of being unable to hold onto her children. Beside herself with anguish she attempted to throw herself into the ocean. I pulled her back and held her as she wept. Inconsolable, she buried her face in the sand. Death is certainly more integrated with life in this part of the world, but there was no quantifying the universality of a mother’s pain.
    Mother who lost her three children to the sea when the tsunami hit...
  • This toddler who lost her parents to the tsunami was found living in an abandoned school in Ampara, Sri Lanka, 2005.
    This toddler who lost her parents to the tsunami was found living in an...
  • Becoming a monk <br /> Yangon, Burma/Myanmar 2005.<br /> A young boy gets his head shaved by an elder fellow monk. In this predominately Buddhist country, every Burmese male is expected to take temporary monastic vows twice in his life: once as a samanera or novice monk between ages five and fifteen and again as a pongyi sometime after twenty. Some spend between a few days and three months; others are ordained for life.
    Becoming a monk Yangon, Burma/Myanmar 2005. A young boy gets his head...
  • Aung San Suu Kyi, Democratic leader of Burma, political prisoner & 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Yangon, Burma/Myanmar 1996.<br /> Although the politics of Burma have stabilized somewhat in recent years, the Burmese military refused to recognize the elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) in 1990, instead seizing all power and placing her under house arrest for 15 years. While still imprisoned, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and was cited by the Nobel Committee as one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades. <br /> I was able to meet Aung San Suu Kyi shortly after she was initially freed from house arrest for a short period and was deeply impressed by her dignity and inner strength during her ongoing struggle for democracy. This day was the first time in six years she had been able to leave her house for the New Year and the NLD members swarmed her front lawn in joyous celebration.
    Aung San Suu Kyi, Democratic leader of Burma, political prisoner & 1991...
  • Fransine rebuilds her life after the Rwandan Genocide, Kigali, Rwanda 2008.<br /> As tensions escalated between Tutsi and Hutu people, the Rwandan Genocide resulted in the 1994 mass murder of 800,000 people in the small Eastern African nation of Rwanda. Rape was systematic and was used as weapon, with estimates of up to 500,000 Rwandanese women and girls being brutally victimized. I met Fransine as she’s learning to sew through an income generating project at a Women for Women International Center.
    Fransine rebuilds her life after the Rwandan Genocide, Kigali, Rwanda...
  • Seven-year-old Maimlina Chepkemoi in class <br /> Rhonda slum Nakuru, Kenya, Africa 2002.<br /> Maimlina’s twenty-two-year-old mother has disappeared, leaving her and her sister with their grandmother, who works as a vegetable seller. They have never known their father. When I first visited the Rhonda slum at Lake Nakuru, I was struck not only by the beauty of the children who lived there but by their optimism and determination in overcoming the adverse conditions surrounding them. Most of these children have been affected in some way by the AIDS epidemic. Many are orphaned or living with grandparents in shanty houses that cost about $5 a month to rent.<br /> Aid organization, Learning and Development Kenya (LDK), initiated the Rhonda Children’s Home and Learning Center in the Rhonda slums. Like an oasis, this school helps to educate children of all abilities to help them eventually merge into some sort of educational system. The organization also offers the community support the children or their families may need.
    Seven-year-old Maimlina Chepkemoi in class Rhonda slum Nakuru, Kenya,...
  • Monk at Ta Prohm Temple Angkor, Cambodia 2006. <br /> Cambodia has the greatest proportion of amputees in the world, due to the presence of millions of land mines, which impose a heavy economic and social burden on this country, already one of the poorest nations in the world. With an estimate placing the cost of clearing a single mine at $300 to $1,000, more than 5000 mines have been collected and destroyed since Cambodia signed the Mine Ban Treaty in 1997, hoping to bring it once again to a land of peace.
    Monk at Ta Prohm Temple Angkor, Cambodia 2006. Cambodia has the...
  • Buddhist monk, Yangon, Burma/Myanmar 2005.<br /> In the Therevada Buddhist tradition a family earns great merit when one of their sons takes up robes and a begging bowl to become one of the country’s two million monks.
    Buddhist monk, Yangon, Burma/Myanmar 2005. In the Therevada Buddhist...
  • Kupa, Nubian woman at her home <br /> Betlekerem, Aswan, Egypt 2009 .
    Kupa, Nubian woman at her home Betlekerem, Aswan, Egypt 2009 .
  • Twins of three sisters in Mazatlan, Mexico, 2009.<br /> I met these three girls with their parents while walking along the coast in Mazatlan. I found it amusing that these young twins in pink emanated such childhood sweetness while their older sister gave a hint of how they might look in their teenage years.
    Twins of three sisters in Mazatlan, Mexico, 2009. I met these three...
  • Three men in turbans, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India. Thousands of people were swarming the streets heading to the banks of the Pushkar Lake for a holy dip on full moon day. I pressed myself against the wall to avoid being crushed. I looked across and these three turbaned men appeared undeterred by the crowd and somewhat entertained by my predicament. The colors are delicious in Rajasthan. So many turbans, so little time.
    Three men in turbans, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India. Thousands of people...
All content © 1987-2022 Alison Wright. Any unauthorized reproduction or licensing of these photographs is in violation of U.S. and international copyright law.