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Chris Jordan    

World-Renowned Photographer and Environmental Activist

Chris Jordan is Seattle-based photographic artist who first became known for his large-scale color photographs of the detritus of American consumer culture, in a series entitled "Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption". His project, "Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait", has established Jordan as an internationally acclaimed artist and spokesperson for social change.

When "Running the Numbers" was first released in early 2007, it quickly went viral on the internet. Since then Jordans website has averaged 75,000-100,000 visitors per month, and Jordan is inundated daily by emails and phone calls from all over the world from individuals and organizations responding to his work. His images have been featured in hundreds of magazines, newspapers, television features, documentary films, books, school curriculums and blogs around the globe, and he has been invited to exhibit his work in art museums, festivals and public venues in the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. He has been asked to speak at numerous colleges and universities in the U.S. and internationally, as well as at conferences such as the TED Conference, the EG Conference, the Leadership Gathering, the GEL Conference, the PopTech Conference, the Greener Gadgets Conference, and the Mountainfilm Festival.

Jordan was chosen by National Geographic Channels International to serve as their Eco-ambassador for Earth Day 2008. In April 2008, they sponsored a month-long tour in Asia and Europe, where Jordan exhibited his prints and gave public talks, workshops, and interviews. In May 2008, Jordan traveled to Caracas, Venezuela, by invitation of the mayor, to exhibit his work and spend a week making school visits and giving public talks and workshops. The exhibition traveled around Venezuela in 2008.

In November 2008, Jordan was invited to Dubai, United Arab Emirates to participate in the World Economic Forum summit. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the New American Dream Foundation. His work recently won the prestigious the Green Leaf Award from the United Nations Environmental Programme, presented at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway. In 2008, the Running the Numbers series was one of three finalists for the international Darmstadt Photographic Prize in Germany and a finalist for the new Green Prix Award in the U.S.

Jordan has a traveling exhibition that visits art and science museums around the U.S. and overseas.

Jordan also directed a film titled MIDWAY, that leads viewers on a rich visual journey through the many layers of Midway Islands stunning paradox. There, in the poetic beauty of the mythical Albatross, is a shocking human-caused environmental tragedy that we are challenged to witness head on. Filmed in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, MIDWAY walks the viewer into beauty, grief, horror and joy, intertwined and dancing, as a potent metaphor for our times.

Speech Topics


Running the Numbers: Portraits of Mass Consumption

Whether hes showing us oceans of discarded plastic bottles, a giant whirlpool of cell phones or aluminum cans stacked a mile high, Chris Jordans startling images provide a perspective on mass culture like no other. Zooming from the enormous to the detailed, from the collective to the individual, his stunning illustrations of the statistics of our mass consumption inspire reflection on our individual roles in the stewardship of our planet. Lecturing with slides of his internationally acclaimed images, Jordan looks at the dark side of the American dream.

Along the way, he shares a wealth of stunning facts about the subjects he depicts: 426,000 cell phones discarded by Americans daily; 15 million sheets of office paper used every five minutes; 30,000 gun-related deaths annually in the U.S.; 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the U.S. every five seconds; and more.

His own journey of awareness is accomplished in a self-reflective style as he details his personal transformation from detached corporate lawyer to passionately engaged artist and cultural activistawakening us to the dangers of our culture of mass consumption.

Reflecting on the deeper implications of our mass consumption, Jordan examines the difficult issues we all face as citizens of the world.

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