Larry Louie

Our Vanishing Cultures

I developed an insatiable curiosity about other cultures and places while growing up in Canada. My fascination with photography and travel developed at a very young age with my first National Geographic magazine.

My photographs allow me to share with others the variety and beauty of the world I see. Increasingly, I feel an urgency to document people in areas of the world threatened by urbanization and globalization – places where traditional ways of life, ancient knowledge and customs, languages and identities are disappearing at an alarming rate. People often talk about endangered species and the loss of biodiversity in nature. Some are finally beginning to notice the threat to the diversity of cultures. The changes brought by industrialization and urbanization affect not only animal and plant species – societies that have been around for thousands of years are also at risk.

In my photographs, I also explore the challenges that arise where people’s lives are caught between the past and present, documenting the social issues of groups that modern society has touched but left behind. I try to show the incredible strength and perseverance that mark people the world over, revealing the light sometimes found in dark places.

As an optometrist, I adjust people's visual perception. As a photographer, I hope to enable others to view our world from a different perspective. Through contact and experience, we learn to develop tolerance and appreciation of others. In my travels, I have come to recognize that all the world's peoples, with their different beliefs, customs, and languages, have important connections. When any group disappears from this world, we lose a part of ourselves. Cultural loss means the disappearance of memory and history, but it is also a loss of potential – a loss to the future. By documenting remote societies, I hope to inspire others to take note of what's at stake.

LLouie

Fine Art Photography

Copyright 2010 © Larry Louie