BIO

Photo: Bettina M. Chavez

Rick Nahmias is a photographer, writer and visual storyteller whose work has been shown across North America, Europe, and Asia. He creates social-issue themed media projects for foundations, non-profits, corporations and cause-driven organizations. He also shoots freelance assignments with an emphasis on editorial, travel, medical and food subjects.

He is best known for documenting the lives and struggles of numerous marginalized communities. "Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited," his traveling photographic, text and audio exhibit which documents eleven marginalized communities at prayer was recently published by University of New Mexico Press. His acclaimed body of work exploring California's agricultural workforce "The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers" was published in 2008. Its companion exhibition has toured to over three dozen museums, universities, and cultural centers across the country.

His images and writing have been profiled and published in newspapers, magazines, journals and blogs such as Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Huffington Post. His work has been presented on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, is part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, and resides in several private and public collections across the country. He will be a presenter at this year's TEDx Conference in Los Angeles, speaking about his innovative blend of photography and activism.

His work has been funded by The Durfee Foundation, The Columbia Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, among others. Nahmias also teaches workshops and speaks publicly to audiences ranging from school children, to colleges and professional development organizations. As an Artist-in-Residence with LA Theatre Works and Facing History & Ourselves he has led photo-essay workshops on social justice and environmental issues. In recognition of "The Migrant Project," he was awarded a U.S. Congressional Citation, and the inaugural Jason K. Stern Scholarship by the Julia Dean Photo Workshops in Los Angeles.

His multimedia exhibition “Last Days of the Four Seasons,” which tells the story of the final years of the last Catskill Mountains bungalow colony for Holocaust survivors recently premiered at the Jewish Museum of Florida in Miami. He is founder and executive director of the anti-hunger non-profit, Food Forward. A graduate of New York University and member of the American Society of Media Photographers and the Writers Guild of America, he lives in Los Angeles.