RYAN SPENCER REED
Born in Ludington, MI, Ryan’s journey documenting critical social issues began in 2002 after pusuing medicine in college. At which point he sold his car to move to Nairobi, Kenya. After several months there he set foot in the Kakuma regufee camp in northwestern Kenya—home to more than 90,000 refugees from conflicts across East Africa, most of whom are Sudanese from the Southern war.This experience of situations so unnaceptable placed a burden which he continues to carry to this day. Working exlusively on Sudan since that time, Ryan has entered Sudan a half dozen times in both the south and Darfur, in addition to covering the mass exodus of refugees to Eastern Chad.
He and his work have moved about the country to universities in the form of traveling exhibitions and lectures since 2004. They have become the driving force, and ultimately the cultural backdrop, for broader symposiums designed to grapel with the issues facing the Sudanese people.
While these exhibits are becoming more virally distributed by the day, his documentation of Sudan continues.