Ken Light: Uncovering a Controversial Rally Over Water Rights – Discussion at UC Berkeley

Documentary Photographer Ken Light spoke on stage during the opening reception for his new FSA-inspired book, Valley of Shadow and Dreams. Ken and his wife/collaborator Melanie Light discuss the controversial water rights protest that took place in the San Joaquin Valley during the time they were interested in making a book.

Ken Light is director of the Center for Photography at the University of California, Berkeley. For over 40 years, Light has committed himself to in-depth storytelling through photography. His aesthetic approach grows out of respect for and knowledge of documentary photography, and his work has been widely published and exhibited internationally.

His photography books include Coal Hollow, Delta Time, Texas Death Row, With These Hands and To the Promised Land. Light’s new book, Valley of Shadow and Dreams, offers evocative photography and keen insight into the environmental, economic and social contradictions in the California Central Valley, reminiscent of the photographs of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) era.

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