Refugee stories set to come alive at TEDxExeter

The reality of life for refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria will come vividly to life when award-winning photographer Giles Duley shows his pictures and tells the stories behind them at this year’s TEDxExeter.

Duley, who lost three limbs and nearly his life in 2011 when working in Afghanistan, is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. He started out as a fashion and music photographer photographing such nineties icons as Oasis, The Prodigy and Pulp. 

Disillusioned with celebrity culture, he discovered that he could use his craft to tell the stories of those without a voice, and that it was powerful and effective.

He has worked with NGOs such as Médecins Sans Frontières, Emergency and UNHCR, documenting their work and telling the stories of those affected by conflict across the world. He was on foot patrol with US soldiers near Kandahar in February 2011 when he stepped on a pressure plate buried in the road, triggering an improvised explosive device. He lost both legs and an arm in the explosion. He spent 45 days in intensive care and on two occasions his family were told to say their goodbyes. Despite the odds, he has not just survived, but thrived and flourished. 

He told his doctors “I am still a photographer”. His attitude was that the loss of three limbs “is going to give me greater insight and empathy into people’s suffering and hopefully put me in a better position to tell their stories. Because that’s all I am, a storyteller.”

Recently Duley has been documenting the refugee crisis caused by the ongoing conflict in Syria, documenting the lives of refugees in the Middle East and in Europe as part of a long-term project for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. He will tell some of their stories in his TEDxExeter talk.

Writing in the Guardian he says that not since the Second World War have so many people been on the move: “I have never been so overwhelmed as by the human drama on the beaches of Lesbos. In its sheer scale, it is hard to comprehend; the lack of response impossible to explain or excuse”.

“We are delighted that Giles will be speaking at TEDxExeter,” says curator and licensee Claire Kennedy.

“He is a world renowned humanitarian photographer who focuses his lens on individuals and families fleeing conflict, helping us connect to them through their stories. His 2012 talk at TEDxObserver, When a reporter becomes the story, was voted one of the top 10 TED talks of 2012, and we’re confident that his talk at TEDxExeter, so vital now, will also be a winner.”

TEDxExeter will be held at the Northcott Theatre on April 15th with a livestream to the nearby Alumni Auditorium. Tickets for both sold out in December.

However, there will also be public livestream events at RAMM (the Royal Albert Memorial Museum) and Exeter Central Library. It is also possible to watch the livestream (click the link on www.TEDxExeter.com on the day) or to hold your own private viewing party (find out how at  http://tedxexeter.com/events/host-a-private-viewing-party/).