Personnel
¡Buen Vivir! Director:
Orin Langelle
Beginning with the anti-war movement in the early 70s, Langelle’s photographs document social 
movements spaninng six continents and four and a half decades. He approaches his role as concerned photographer by not merely documenting the struggle for social and ecological justice, but by being an active part of it. This has enabled him to garner the trust of many of the subjects he has documented, allowing him access that would not have been possible otherwise. In this way, he has been able to expose the truth that is so often hidden by the powers of injustice.
Langelle’s work has been published in numerous books, magazines and newspapers. His photographs have been exhibited in many cites in the US, and also Copenhagen, Denmark and Amsterdam, The Netherlands in Europe. He feels highly honored that his work has been shown in indigenous community centers in South America and Mexico. In 2009 his work was exhibited in the Ayoreo indigenous community, Campo Loro, in the Gran Chaco region of Paraguay. This exhibit was a result of an invitation by the Ayoreo Indigenous People to come into their territory to photograph and “share the eye” as the Ayoreo put it—Langelle was the only photographer invited by the Ayoreo in recent years to take photographs of their community and lands. In May 2011, an exhibit of Langelle’s work was in the indigenous community of Amador Hernandez, in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas, Mexico. Langelle [again] was the first photographer to be invited by that community to take photographs in several years. Langelle has photographed protests at the WTO, World Bank, and from 2004 to 2011 he covered meetings on the inside and protests on the outside of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Climate Change.
Langelle documents a wide range of topics, cultures, ecosystems and geographies. Topics include the struggles of communities, activists, workers and Indigenous Peoples–against racism, war, ecological devastation, climatic disruption, economic domination, human rights abuses and oppression of women. His work is an historical look at social movements, struggle and everyday life. It is designed to counter the societal amnesia from which we collectively suffer—especially with regard to the history of social and ecological struggles. This is not merely a chronicling of history, but a call out to inspire new generations to participate in the making of a new history.
His photographic Curriculum Vitae can be found here and his biography as an activist here.
Anne Petermann, Executive Director and Co-founder Global Justice Ecology Project
Anne Petermann is the Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project, which she co-founded in 2003. She is also the International Coordinator of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, which she co-founded in 2014, and a founding Board Member of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series.
She has been involved in movements for forest protection and Indigenous rights since 1991, and the international and national climate justice movements since 2004. She co-founded the Eastern North American Resource Center of the Native Forest Network in 1993, and the original STOP GE Trees Campaign in 2004. She also participated in the founding of the Durban Group for Climate Justice in 2004 in Durban, South Africa, and Climate Justice Now! in 2007 at the Bali, Indonesia UN Climate Conference.
Anne has spoken and written extensively about the destructive social and ecological impacts of genetically engineered trees, including the impacts on Indigenous Peoples and forest dependent communities, and the links to cellulosic biofuels made from wood, and other socially and environmentally destructive “false solutions” to climate change.
She has also presented on these subjects at capacity-building trainings for Indigenous Peoples, and at conferences including UN Climate Summits, the UN Biodiversity Conferences, the UN Forum on Forests, and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
She is the author of several reports and numerous articles detailing the dangers of genetically engineered trees. She is a contributor to Z Magazine, Counterpunch, Toward Freedom and Daily Kos.
She was adopted as an honorary member of the Saint Francis-Sokoki band of the Abenaki in 1992 for her work in support of their struggle for state recognition.
In 2000 she received the Wild Nature Award for Activist of the year.
¡Buen Vivir! Gallery for Contemporary Art, 148 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY +1.716.931.5833
