Sat on the steps of a yurt, a tourist adjusts her traditional mongolian clothing. Traditional life has all but disappeared on the Inner Mongolian Grasslands, along with much of the grass in places, which has been damaged by overgrazing. 2009

This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ was taken in Inner Mongolia earlier this year, during my 6-week trip for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. I have chosen this photo this week because on Wednesday, I am heading back to Inner Mongolia to take part in the International Conference of Science & Technology on Desertification Control. I have been invited there to speak to the 150+ scientists, experts and businessmen attending, on the subject of desertification and my coverage of the issue for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. As I type this post, I have some 50 prints being printed, all to be shown as an exhibition in Wulanhaote, where the conference is being hosted.

I am really looking forward to this conference as it will be a great opportunity to bring my photography and work on desertification to a new audience and an important one at that. As photographers, we want people to see our images. We want as many people as possible to see them. This is great, but sometimes a targeted approach is equally good. Many of China’s leading experts on desertification and environmental issues shall be at this conference, therefore I have an opportunity to emphasise to them the importance of photography and its role in communicating scientific and environmental issues to the public.

I shall be sure to post from the conference and update about some of the key issues being discussed. I shall also post images of the final hanging of the exhibition. Thanks again to all who offered advice on the hanging, both here on the blog and over at Lightstalkers.

I have been invited to have an exhibition next week, which will showcase 48 images from my work on desertification in China over the past 2 years, at a Science and Technology Conference on Desertification Control in Inner Mongolia.

The details of the space I have available for the exhibition have been sent through to me at the very last minute and I am trying to brainstorm ways to hang this exhibition in an effective way.

I have been informed that I will have 40 wooden boards, measuring 120cm x 80cm, almost like an artist’s sketching easel, standing on wooden legs.

The prints aren’t going to be able to be framed in the time we have, so I also need to find a way to ‘stick’ the prints to the boards. Pins? Double-sided tape? Needs to look professional either way.

I’m completely open to ideas from my readership here, so if you have any thoughts, I’d be more than happy to hear them. Make them quick though, as I have 24hours before I head to the printers!

Many thanks in advance!

I’m happy to announce that my exhibition, ‘China’s Growing Sands‘, which is on show at Cafe Zarah in central Beijing, has been extended by one month until the beginning of September. If you haven’t had a chance to swing by, you now have an extra month to drop-in to check out the show!

All of the prints are still on sale, priced at just under 1800 Chinese RMB (US$264 approx / 157 GBP approx. as of exchange rates today). A few of them however have already been sold, but there are still plenty available. If there is a particular image you are interested in, please drop me a line to check its availability.

Once the exhibition has finished, I’ll be selling the remaining prints right here on my blog, so please stay tuned for more details on that.

If you missed my post with images from the exhibition opening, please find it here.

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China’s Growing Sands appears in the August issue of The Beijinger this month. For the foreign community in Beijing, the magazine needs no introduction as it is a well-known steady source of news, events and happenings in and around the Beijing area.

I’ve put the layout into a handy piece of software which allows you to flip through the layout, exactly as it appears in the magazine. To turn the pages above, just move your cursor to either the top-right of the right hand page or the bottom-right of it. Then, click and drag left. Also, if you want to try and read the text, or have a closer look at the pictures, just give the picture a double-click wherever you want to zoom into.

If the writing is top small for you to read, here is the reproduced text below:

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Yesterday morning, I was invited to the China Radio International studios here in Beijing, to take part in a panel discussion about desertification. The discussion was a great success and I was really happy to be able to talk about this issue and my work for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting on the radio for the second time this week. One of my aims for the distribution of this work was to get it out into as many different media outlets as possible. With the advent of new media, I think radio has been forgotten a little in a way, so it’s good to promote it here on my blog.

Please click here to listen to the panel discussion as it aired yesterday

Also, please find below a few images taken during the show by the host Chris Gelken and other members of the China Radio International staff.

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Image from my series on China's Growing Sands also selected for the foto8 Summer Show, selected for the Telgraph.co.uk's Photo of the Day

You may recognise the image to the left as my selected ‘Photo of the Week’, which I posted on Monday. As regular visitors here will know, it was recently chosen for inclusion in the foto8 Summer show exhibition at HOST gallery in London.

Well, in addition to the above, it was also chosen by Daily Telegraph photo department’s Lucy Davies, as her ‘Photo of the Day’ for July 29th. I only just noticed today as the past couple of days have been very busy!

It’s great to see this image getting a little more exposure as I think it’s a very important image in my work on China’s Growing Sands. If you missed Monday’s post, please do check it out my just scrolling down on the blog homepage.

Please click here to listen to China Radio International Interview with photographer Sean Gallagher

The above audio file is an interview that aired with China Radio International today, on the subject of desertification and my work for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

This is the first time I have been interviewed on the radio in relation to my work for Pulitzer, however it won’t be the last as I have also been invited back for a panel discussion on Thursday 30th July which will air at 10:00 a.m. Beijing time (03:00 a.m. GMT), also on the subject of desertification. To hear that discussion, please tune in here. If you miss it, do not worry, as I shall post it onto the blog soon after.

Hope you enjoy the interview!

Image from the 'ecological refugee' town of Hongsibao in Ningxia Province, China. Selected as part of Foto8's Summer Show 2009.

I’m pleased to announce that the above image has been selected for the foto8 Summer Show which is currently on show at HOST Gallery in London this week and will be there until the 5th of September.

“The Foto8 Summer Show saw over 2,300 individual image entries submitted by photographers from over 44 countries. The final selection of more than 120 framed prints is hung at HOST gallery in London. It was a tough choice with many spectacular images to view, but the Foto8 editorial team has made a final selection for the exhibitors of the second Annual Foto8 Awards & Summer Show 2009.” -Foto8

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Exhibition Review of China's Growing Sands on Beijing City Weekend Website

Just wanted to let you know about a nice little review that has been written about my China’s Growing Sands exhibition which is still on show at Cafe Zarah in Central Beijing at the moment. It appears City Weekend’s Art Critic “Art Attack” caught the show and had some nice things to say about it. See the article here or read the reproduced text below.

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Last weekend, I held the opening of my first solo exhibition in mainland China of China’s Growing Sands, at Cafe Zarah in central Beijing. The evening was a wonderful success, attracting a great crowd of people interested in environmental issues, desertification and photography. Thankyou so much to all those who made it on the night. The exhibition runs until August 5th, so there is still plenty of time to get down to Cafe Zarah to see the images if you couldn’t make it on the night.

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