Michael Forster Rothbart

At 17, Michael Forster Rothbart joined and photographed the Icewalk North Pole expedition.[1]

Forster Rothbart graduated from Swarthmore College in 1994 and decided to become a documentary photographer in 1996, when traveling in India. He saw a World Bank-financed dam on the Narmada River in Gujarat and found that local activist's views and community impact was undocumented.[2]

He has worked as a staff photographer for the University of Wisconsin and as an Associated Press photographer in Central Asia.[1][3] Other projects include documenting the effects of hydrofracking and USAID's programs in Central Asia.[4][5]

He was a staff photographer and photo editor at SUNY Oneonta,[6] where he also taught photojournalism. He spent 2016-2017 in Donetsk, Ukraine, working for OSCE.

After receiving a U.S. Fulbright Fellowship, in 2007 Forster Rothbart interviewed and photographed residents in and around Chernobyl.[7][8] For two years, he lived in Sukachi, Ukraine, a small farming village just outside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and also spent time in Slavutych, Ukraine, the city built after the accident to house evacuated Chernobyl plant personnel.[1][8]

His photos were initially toured to American communities facing their own nuclear contamination as part of an exhibit, After Chernobyl . Forster Rothbart explained that "I created this exhibit because I want the world to know what I know: the people of Chernobyl are not victims, mutants and orphans. They are simply people living their lives, with their own joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. Like you. Like me."[8] During each exhibit, Forster Rothbart lead photography workshops and public forums, engaging the communities in dialogue about their own local issues.[1][8]

In 2012, Forster Rothbart launched a parallel project in Fukushima, Japan. He has started photographing nuclear plant workers, refugees and returning residents over a period of years.[9] [10]

A book of photos, interviews and essays was published October 21, 2013, by TED Books.[10][11] Entitled “Would You Stay?”, it features personal narrative, photos, interviews, maps and audio recordings in an attempt to understand why people refuse to leave Chernobyl and Fukushima despite the risks.[12][9][10][11] He later gave a TED talk about this work.[13]

The National Press Photographers Association’s Best Of Photojournalism 2014 competition awarded “Would You Stay?” first place in the Multimedia Tablet/Mobile category, third place for Best Use of Multimedia and an honorable mention in the Contemporary Issues category.[12][14]

Forster Rothbart is the father of two and lives in upstate New York with his spouse .[15][16][17] He identifies as a Quaker, which he says complements work in photography, and attends Quaker meetings.[2][16] He enjoys hiking and likes to take his family camping.[15] His younger brother is author and filmmaker Davy Rothbart.[15]