Christina Assi is a Lebanese photojournalist and photo editor. After losing a leg in an Israeli tank attack in southern Lebanon in October 2023, she began campaigning for journalists' safety.

Christina was born in Lebanon. Growing up there in the 1990s, she lived through the instability of the civil war that she documented in multiple stories. In 2005 she moved to Doha, capital city of Qatar, with her family. Christina graduated from the Notre Dame University-Louaize in Lebanon with a bachelor's degree in communications and journalism. In 2018, she began to work for Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Cyprus as a photo editor.

On 13 October 2023, while live reporting on a column of smoke on the Israeli-Lebanese border along with six other journalists, she was a victim of an Israeli tank shell attack in Alma al-Shaab. The attack involved two strikes and resulted in Christina losing her right leg.One of the two explosions killed her best friend, Reuters correspondent Issam Abdallah. Five more of their colleagues were wounded. All journalists were wearing bulletproof vests and helmets, clearly marked as press. Christina demands that the attack be considered a war crime.

Since then, Christina became a campaigner for journalists' safety, giving numerous interviews and propelling a rehabilitation programme for people with similar life-altering injuries. On 21 July 2024, with colleague, journalist Dylan Collins, she carried the torch in Vincennes, France, ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic games, representing the journalists who died in the line of duty.

At the end of 2024, the BBC included Assi in its list 100 Women, which recognises the most influential women in the world each year.

On episode 292, Christina discusses, among other things:

• Early memories of growing up in Lebanon
• Her first job as a photo Editor for AFP in Cypress
• Buying her first camera with the prize money from a photography competition
• First opportunites with photography assignments
• Being sent to Lebanon in the aftermath of the October 7th terrorist attacks by Hamas
• The story of the day of the attack that changed her life
• Waking up in hospital and trying to make sense of what had happeneed
• finding out her close friend Issam Abdallah had been killied
• The killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqla
• Her insight into how inaccessible the world is to wheelchair users
• Recuperation and recovery
• Documenting herself
• Her new relationship with the camera… and letting go of perfectionism
• Making a short film about her experience
• Her advocacy work for the protection of journalists and demand for accountability
• The way in which her experience has changed her perception of the kind of stories she wants to cover

Instagram | CPJ piece (with links)

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Reuben Wu is a multidisciplinary artist who explores new ways of telling compelling stories about the world we inhabit.

His work with aerial lighting and long-exposure photography has defined a singular style in contemporary landscape photography and belongs in the Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the MoMA.

His practice spans fine art and creative collaborations with brands.

Reuben was born in Liverpool to parents who had immigrated from Hong Kong. Following their guidance, he pursued Industrial Design at university, though his academic focus often took a backseat to DJing, collecting records and enjoying Sheffield’s vibrant music scene.

After graduating, his passion for music led him back to Liverpool’s creative community, and with Daniel Hunt, Mira Aroyo, and Helen Marnie, he formed the band Ladytron in 1999. Their first single earned Single of the Week in the NME. Soon they were signed to a label and invited on a world tour, at which point Reuben left his job at an industrial design consultancy to dedicate the next decade to music.

When Ladytron took a break, Reuben again faced the challenge of reinvention. Though uncertain, he committed to pursuing photography professionally. After years of persistence and occasional strokes of luck, he established himself in the field, bringing his own visual perspective shaped by his design and musical background.

Reuben works globally and lives in Chicago, USA.

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Richard Sharum is an editorial and documentary photographer based in upstate New York. Mainly focusing on socio-economic or social justice dilemmas concerning the human condition, his work has been regarded as in-depth, up-close and personal.

Selected exhibitions have occurred in Kyoto, Japan, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Reggio Emilia, Italy, New York City, Boston, Chicago and Dallas, and his work has been added to the permanent collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and The Wittliff Collection, as well as others.

Richard's commissions include those by The Meadows Foundation, Centers for Community Cooperation, Harvard Law School, Student Conservation Association, Children's Medical Center (Oncology), Children's Cancer Fund.

His publications include those by LFI (Leica International), British Journal of Photography, LensCulture, The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Publico (Portugal), El Pais (Spain), Observer (UK), The Wall Street Journal, B+W Photo Magazine, Huck Magazine, Glasstire, PATRON, Creative Review, among others.

Richard has published two photobooks, Campesina Cuba and Spina Americana, both with GOST. His third, American Homicide, will be released early in 2027, also by GOST. The last two of these titles will be joined in 2028 by American Avenue, to form a trilogy of books entitled Of Thee I Sing.

He is represented by The Hulett Collection, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

On episode 290, Richard discusses, among other things:

• His goal of reaching a wider audience among the general public.
• Team window vs. team mirror
• His new book American Homocide
• The fascination for true crime among the public
• How murder affects all the groups involved
• Getting access to the detective squad he embedded with
• The portrayal of violence on screen
• His obsession with time
• The need to be empathetic and open
• The impact of being exposed so many murder victims
• The murder detectives he got to know and photograph
• Corresponding with the perpetrators
• Part three of his planned trilogy, American Avenue
• The state of the photobook industry and the unfairness of the current system

Referenced:

• W Eugene Smith
• Sebastião Salgado
• James Nachtwey
• Larry Towell
• Leonard Freed
• Susan Meiselas
• Gordon Parks

Website | Instagram | Lecture at Columbia

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