The ALI Folio™: Photographs of Sonia Katchian
September 18, 2007 through January 21, 2008
Featuring fascinating photos of Muhammad Ali at the pinnacle of his career, this special exhibition
offers an intimate look at the Louisville icon through the lens of internationally acclaimed photographer Sonia Katchian. A select collection of 41 photos were chosen from Sonia’s thousands of Ali images. The exhibit includes major fight photos that were originally published in Sports Illustrated and Sport magazine in the 1970's as well as dozens of behind-the-scenes photos of the Champ that illustrate the softer, personable side of Muhammad. The black and white images of Ali were taken in locations all over the world with his family, friends and other close companions. Most of the photos have had little public exposure.
Hours: 9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday – Saturday
12 noon - 5 p.m. Sunday
Admission: Exhibition is included with regular admission to the Ali Center.
$9 adults
$8 seniors (65+)
$5 students and military
$4 children (6-12)
Members and children ages 5 and under are free
The ALI Folio™ and Individual Prints Available for Purchase
Fourteen photographs selected from Sonia’s collection make up The ALI Folio™, a boxed collector’s edition limited to only 50 sets. The ALI Folio™ is available for sale at the Ali Center retail store.
About the Photographer: Sonia Katchian
The documentary work of Sonia Katchian concerns itself with the great, the downtrodden and everyone in between. Sonia first met Muhammad Ali while shopping in New York City with her sister who urged her to run after him. She reluctantly sniffed, “Why would I want to photograph a boxer?” This exhibition is the answer to that question, and her sister Anahid continues cheering her on, for which the photographer is eternally grateful.
Two of Sonia’s photographs are part of the permanent installation at the Muhammad Ali Center. Most recently her photographs were acquired by the Smithsonian and others are in private collections and museums around the world. She was called to Hollywood in 2001 to be a consultant on the Sony Pictures feature film ALI starring Will Smith. Film director Michael Mann poured over the thousands of pictures Sonia has taken of Ali over the years, especially those during the period 1974–1981, as inspiration for the biographical film.
Sonia was the first woman photographer hired by The New York Post. She was the first woman photographer credentialed to shoot at ringside for a heavyweight championship bout and the first foreign journalist to be kidnapped on Beirut’s infamous Green Line during Lebanon’s civil war. She is co-author of the photo anthology “Women See Woman” by Harper & Row and is a founding member of the original Soho Photo Gallery. Before moving to the Triangle area of North Carolina, she worked in Tokyo for a decade where she was director of Photo Shuttle: Japan, Tokyo correspondent for Photo District News, and photo editor of Business Tokyo magazine. Sonia is a graduate of Barnard College and has taught photography in New York City and in Durham, North Carolina. She counts as her mentors W. Eugene Smith and Arthur Tcholakian. Today she shoots photos for corporate clients for their annual reports and brochures and has expanded into multimedia documentary projects. Sonia’s work can be seen online at www.photoshuttle.com and www.alifolio.com .