Award winning photographer and filmmaker John Rowe has spent over two decades documenting people and cultures worldwide, including in Southeast Asia, India, Mongolia, China, Japan, Cuba and Africa.
Most recently, his work has focused on recording the life, changing cultures, and challenges of tribal people in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley. His richly illustrated fine art book OMO VALLEY, with Foreword by Steve McCurry, was just released in Spring 2017. Rowe also directed and produced the acclaimed full-length documentary film Omo Child: The River and the Bush which has won twenty-five festival awards, been featured on PBS, and been instrumental in creating a profound cultural shift through powerful compelling real life stories.
In 2013, twenty images of his work on Africa and Antarctica were included in the 125th Anniversary of National Geographic Photography and the Power of Photography exhibition at the Annenburg Space in Los Angeles, California. In 2014 Rowe was honored for his Humanitarian work in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley by The Explorers Club with the prestigious Lowell Thomas Award. He is a guest lecturer and Honorary Professor for audio visual arts at ISA, The Fine Arts University in Havana.
Rowe’s current work also features photographic projects in Cuba, including a historic visit by President Obama, a Rolling Stones concert, the Fidel memorial, and coverage of Cuba’s National Boxing Team in training. In 2016, an exhibition of Rowe’s images of the National Ballet of Cuba, was featured at the Gran Teatro de la Habana during the International Festival of Ballet.