Howard Zehr divides his attention between justice and photography – and is happiest when the two interests converge.
He has worked professionally as a photographer and photojournalist, both in the North America and internationally. His current involvements are primarily in documentary, portrait and landscape photography. He occasionally leads classes and seminars on photography.
Since 1996 he has been Professor of Restorative Justice at the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, though he is now largely retired. For more information see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zehr
Documentary Projects and Exhibits
Still Doing Life: 22 Lifers 25 Years Later. Published by The New Press, March 2022, with exhibits to open in Philadelphia, PA and elsewhere starting in May 2022.Autumn Leaves: Reflections on Aging. Spitzer Art Center, Harrisonburg, VA, May 2015. Also at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Center, August 2015.
When a parent is in prison. Documentary project in process, with Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz. A pilot version of the exhibit traveled with the play, “Holding Up,” by TOVA – artistic projects for social change, spring 2007, and has been exhibited in many other venues. A larger exhibit is available on loan from Mennonite Central Committee’s Audiovisual Library (http://www.mcc.org/resources/). A pdf version may be viewed at http://emu.edu/cjp/prisoner-parent/prisoner-parent08.pdf. A book What Will Happen to Me? is now available.
Photographer for Albert M. Greenfield Restorative Justice Program of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program for adjudicated teenagers, 5/07.
A ladder without rungs: exploring metaphors of trauma. Art exhibit including photos, paintings and reflections, with Judah Oudshoorn and Manas Ghanem, Eastern Mennonite University Art Gallery, 11/05. Also exhibited in Ontario, Canada March-April 2006 and Bluffton University, Bluffton, OH, Feb-March 2007. A smaller traveling version is also being itinerated by Mennonite Central Committee’s Audiovisual library.
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Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims (see book below). Bodies in Motion, a play based on Transcending, written and directed by Ingrid DeSanctis, traveled for several years. An exhibit of this project was featured on the Washington Post Cameraworks website, 12/01 through 2002. Also a student-curated exhibit at Skidmore College, NY, Sept.-Dec. 2003.
God Cannot Let His People Die - portraits and interviews from the church in Southern Sudan, in cooperation with the New Sudan Council of Churches, 1994-95. Traveling exhibits.
The Meaning of Life - portraits and interviews with men and women serving life without parole. Traveling exhibit. (See book, Doing Life).
Dreams and Fears of St. Thomas - portraits and interviews from a housing project in New Orleans in 1990 resulted in four traveling exhibits. At the request of the community, follow up interviews and photos were done in fall, 1995 and 2000.
Waiting on the Outside - photographs and interviews with wives of prisoners in six states. Funded by the Indiana Committee for the Humanities, it resulted in several traveling exhibits (as well as a drama & video by Bridgework Theater, Goshen, IN and a book published by Herald Press). Awarded first prize by the Religious Public Relations Council, 1983.
"Family Time," a small traveling exhibit/portfolio of families visiting in prison.
Photos and interviews in West Bank for Dry Roof and a Cow (book published by Mennonite Central Committee; Howard Zehr was also editor and photography coordinator).
Photography books and articles
What Will Happen to Me? (with Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz) (Good Books 2011)
Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences (Good Books, 1996 & 2011)
Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims (Good Books, 2001)
The Little Book of Contemplative Photography (Good Books, 2005)
"Photography and a Life Sentence," Photo District News, March 1995, 118-120.
"Photography and a Life Sentence," Festival Quarterly, Winter 1994, 7-11.
"Photography can become meditation or violence," Council on Church and Media Forum, December 1995.
"Precise Transparency Exposure Control: How Bright is a Red Barn?" in Controlling Color Photography (Niles, IL: Darkroom Techniques, 1994).
Column on photography in MCC Intercom, 1991-1993.
"Precise Transparency Exposure Control: How Bright is a Red Barn?" Darkroom and Creative Camera Techniques, July/August 1990, 48-49.
"A BTL Densitometer," Camera 35, Jan. 1974, 60, 76.
One or Two Person Exhibits
The Little Shenandoah – a social documentary project, exhibited at Grace Albrecht Gallery, Bluffton University, Bluffton, OH, Feb. – March 2007.
A ladder without rungs: exploring metaphors of trauma. (see above)
“Panoramic Landscapes,” Eastern Mennonite Seminary gallery, fall, 2005.
“Transcending” – gallery on the Washington Post cameraworks.com website 12/01ff.
”Doing Life,” photo exhibit on Mennonite Media website, 1998.
”Meaning of Life,” one-person exhibit, Sauder Visual Arts Center, Albecht Gallery, Bluffton College, OH, Sept. 1998.
"Meaning of Life," one-person exhibit, Hesston College Gallery, Nov.-Dec. 1996.
Two-person show and gallery talks, People's Place Gallery, Intercourse, PA Nov. 1993-Jan. 1994
Mulberry Art Gallery, Lancaster, PA, 1991 (two-person).
Fernwood Nature Center gallery, Niles, MI, summer, 1990 (one person).
Mennonite Mutual Aid gallery, Goshen, IN 1989.
"Gifts From the Earth: Stones and Ceramics." Lehman Gallery, Goshen, IN 1989. With Dick Lehman.
Goshen College, Goshen, IN (two-person).
Hesston College, Hesston, KS.
Bethel College, North Newton, KS.
Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, VA.
Talladega College, Talladega, AL.
Elkhart Public Library, Elkhart, IN.
Memorial Hospital Cultural Arts, South Bend, IN (three-person).
Included in Exhibits
“Parallel Lives exhibit,” Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia, PA, June 2004.(Also gallery talk)
Elkhart Juried Regional, Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN 1979, 1983, 1988.
Fourth Area Artist's Association Juried Exhibit, Michigan City, IN 1989 (honorable mention).
Mennonite Artists Contemporary 1980.
Halsted Gallery, Chicago, IL 1984 (invitational).
Elkhart Art League, Elkhart, IN 1979 (first & second place).
Miscellaneous photography
Photojournalism and documentary photography in at least 24 countries on assignment for Mennonite Central Committee and other agencies.
Honorable Mention, 1997Assignment Earth competition, B&W Professional category,
Sante Fe Center for Visual Arts.
Video on lifers for local PBS station, with Dirk Eitzen (incomplete).
Still photographer for feature movie The Radicals filmed in Switzerland and France.
Writer and photographer for MCC film "Stories on the Way."
Writer/producer for documentary/educational videos including:
"Walking on Holy Ground: Four Women in Bangladesh."
"VORP Mediation: A Peacemaking Model."
Concept, video interviews and still photos for video "You Chiefs are Peacemakers."
Taught photography at Talladega College and in various workshops.
Artist-in-residence grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to teach photography to lifers at Muncy and Graterford prisons, PA 1993-1994.
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