Lisa Kristine

Lisa Kristine with Pope Franicis

Lisa Kristine-Exhibition-Launch-Vatican-2019

Kristine began learning photography at age 11. Inspired as a child while looking at images of indigenous people in her mother’s anthropology caused her to think they resembled pillars of the earth, unshakable and empowered. “I remember thinking these people must be grounded somehow, must know things I needed to know to survive in the world. I resolved that as soon as I could, I would go find them and ask.”[5]

She graduated at 18 from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in San Francisco and immediately took off for Europe. Although the two-year Fashion Institute program had taught her a lot about color, design, and graphics, she says, “I recognized that [fashion] wasn’t going to be for me.”

Young and adventurous, she lived on a few dollars a day, and traveled through Europe, North Africa, and Asia making photographs. She especially gravitated to and responded to the bold colors of Asia. Over the years, as her images found an audience among collectors, she realized she had developed a solid career.

Shortly thereafter, she says, her work became more purposeful. She spent long stretches of time looking into ancient cultures, delving into how they found meaning, whether through conventional religion, philosophy, or animism.

The people she encountered and photographed, however, were not just her subjects, she says, but her mentors.”

As an adult and professional photographer, Kristine began traveling internationally in the early 1980s.[6] She has visited countries on six continents and is focused on topics related to human rights and, in particular, modern slavery.[7][8] Lisa is known to spend months connecting with her subjects by traveling with a translator to ensure the subjects' permission before documenting them on film.[9]

In 2009, she collaborated with Free the Slaves on a body of work about human enslavement, published as Slavery (2010).

Kristine was the recipient of the 2013 Lucie Humanitarian Award.[2][10] She has given a TED talk and has also written for the Atlantic.[11][12] Lisa Tsering of the Hollywood Reporter expressed,” Still photographer Lisa Kristine uses her camera as a tool to expose the injustice and cruelty of modern-day slavery in such far-flung locales as the Sonagachi slum in Kolkata and the gold mines of Ghana,” in her article after seeing the documentary, In Plain Sight at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2014.[13]

In 2015, Resource Magazine recognized her as one of the 12 top tier portrait photographers.[14] In 2016, she gave the keynote at the Thomson Reuters Trust Conference and she gave the keynote at Thomson Reuters 2017 Anti-Slavery Summit in Hong Kong.[12] Her work has been endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Queen Mother of Bhutan, and Amnesty International.[2][15]

Kristine's speaking was described as "most gripping...I've ever seen in a presentation" by Carmine Gallo in his book, Talk like TED:The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of The World's Top Minds.[16] When the State of the World Forum convened in San Francisco in 1999, Kristine presented her work to help inspire discussions on human rights, social change, and global security.[2][12] Her work was auctioned by Christie's New York and sponsored by the United Nations to benefit Kofi Annan's Ambassador's Ball.[2] In 2016 the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center received an award for best exhibit from the Ohio Museums Association, in showing Kristine's Enslaved exhibition.[17][18] Kristine was the sole exhibitor at the 2009 Vancouver Peace Summit.[2]

Kristine, along with Actors Robin Wright, David Oyelowo, and Wagner Moura lent their support to a global 50forFreedom campaign[19] to end modern slavery that is being launched by the International Labour Organization.[20]

Lisa has also been interviewed by CNN and her work on slavery has been featured in three films released in 2014.[21] One of these films, Sold, directed by Academy Award-winner Jeffrey D. Brown and Emma Thompson includes a character inspired by Kristine and is portrayed by Gillian Anderson. In 2017, Kristine published her sixth book, entitled Bound to Freedom: Slavery to Liberation.

In 2017, Kristine founded Human Thread Foundation to promote human dignity through educating the public and driving awareness about social causes.

In 2018 Kristine’s work inspired a worksheet for 7th-10th graders for world history, civics and visual arts through Literacy & Empathy: Learning Activity for Ted Talks on Modern-Day slavery resulted in a worksheet created and designed with literacy strategies for understanding slavery through Kristine’s TED talk.[22][23]

On Feb 19th, 2015, Kristine’s exhibition entitled Modern Slavery was presented at Kogart House Museum in Budapest, Hungary. The First Lady, Anita Herczegh, wife of President János Áder, the main patron of the exhibition, took part in the opening of the exhibition, which was open for two months and presented 55 photos. Gábor Kovács, the head of the Kogart House, in opening remarks said, “With the exhibition, our goal is to draw attention to the slavery of our time and we encourage everyone to help eliminate this problem in their own way. “[24]

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center announced the opening of ENSLAVED: A Visual Story of Modern Day Slavery on Saturday, May 7, 2016. The exhibit featured images by world-renown humanitarian photographer, Lisa Kristine that not only document the lives endured by slaves but also celebrate the freedom they never dreamed possible.[25]

In February of 2017 Kristine’s EnSlaved Exhibition[26] was featured at the Smithsonian Affiliate’s, National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.[27][28][29]

On May 10th, 2019, Pope Francis officially blessed and inaugurated Lisa Kristine’s exhibition, Nuns Healing Hearts, at the Vatican. The exhibition focused on the Talitha Kum nuns who combat human trafficking around the world.[30] The images were taken in more than six countries and were a culmination of a nearly two-year project. About the images, Kristine said, “I think what has moved me the most about the project has been working closely with the nuns and seeing how they go forward with such strength and tenderness—and tirelessly offer their help to others despite the few resources they have.”

In 2019, Kristine’s exhibition launched on July 29th at the United Nations in New York City, NY. The Nuns Healing Hearts exhibition was opened by Princess Takamado of the Japanese Imperial Family on November 22nd at the Mitsubishi Gallery in Japan.[31][32][33]

• A Human Thread. San Francisco: Migration, 2002
• This Moment. San Francisco: Migration, 2002
• Callahan, Peggy (2010). Slavery. Washington, DC: Free the Slaves. ISBN 978-0-615-40323-6. With a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
• Kristine, Lisa. Intimate Expanse. San Francisco: Migration. ISBN 978-0-9839205-1-9.
• Kristine, Lisa. One Breath. San Francisco: Migration. ISBN 978-0-9839-205-2-6.
• Bound to Freedom: Slavery to Liberation. Goff. ISBN 1935935089. With a foreword by Pope Francis.

• A Human Thread (2003) – documentary on Kristine, produced by MediaStorm. DVD.
• Through the Lens (2007) – documentary on Kristine, produced by MediaStorm. DVD.
• In Plain Sight (2014) – documentary, produced by Pivitol Eye.
• #standwithme – documentary, produced by Stillmotion.
• Sold (2014) – feature film, produced by Jane Charles, directed by Jeffrey D. Brown.

• Lisakristine.com