Chicago Auction

Voices for Justice 2009 - Silent Auction

Chef Laurent Gras
Laurent Gras was born and raised in Antibes on the Côte d’Azur in France, in a family and culture that was very food oriented. After achieving 3 Michelin stars as the chef de cuisine at Alain Ducasse Paris in 1996, Gras decided the time had come to find his own restaurant. Gras arrived in New York City in 1997 at the Waldorf Astoria's Peacock Alley. His cooking was received with high praise from critics and diners alike. Gras next conquered the west coast, taking the helm of the Fifth Floor restaurant in San Francisco. The next three years would be a discovery of the bounty of California’s farms and waters, and furthering his relationship with American diners.

In 2007 Gras moved to Chicago to begin working on L2O with Chicago-based restaurateur Richard Melman, the founding chairman of Lettuce Entertain You. While his cuisine is easy to enjoy, with its intense flavors and simple elegance, it is harder to describe. It does not fit neatly into any one category. Instead of limiting himself to a particular nationality or style, he is inspired by the world around him. Gras defines his cuisine by the principles of flavor, aesthetic and perfection, in that order.

 

Tim Hetherington

Tim Hetherington is a documentary photographer, filmmaker and broadcast journalist who covered the Liberian civil war, its aftermath, and its impact on the people of Liberia. After the war, he spent a year working as an investigator for the United Nations Security Council's Liberia Sanctions Committee. His recent book, Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold, explores the dynamics of power, international complicity and the search for justice in recent Liberian history. His photographs were exhibited in conjunction with the Human Rights Watch Film Festival at the Lincoln Center's Furman Gallery in June 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chef Rodelio Aglibot
Executive Chef Rodelio Aglibot has an incredible background in Asian cuisine and culture.  His extensive travels and cooking tours throughout Asia, in addition to running some of the most renowned Asian kitchens on the West Coast, has earned him recognition by numerous media outlets as the “Food Buddha.”  Born in the Philippines and raised in Hawaii, Aglibot was celebrated as the opening executive chef at the celebrity-studded juggernaut Koi Restaurant in Los Angeles, where his composed cuisine focused on traditional Japanese ingredients prepared with French technique and California style.  After two years at Koi, Aglibot opened his own restaurant, Yi Cuisine, which went on to be named one of the “Best New Asian Restaurants” by Food & Wine magazine.  In 2006 he contributed to “New Asian Cuisine: Fabulous Recipes from Celebrity Chefs”, the definitive cookbook on the subject.  One year later he began working with Rockit Ranch Productions on Sunda in Chicago, which opened in early 2009 to great acclaim, including three-star (“excellent”) reviews from both Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times and was recently named “Best New Restaurant” by CS Magazine (Chicago Social).  His style of cooking is accessible and comfortable, based on traditional Asian foundations but with a dash of the unexpected, using the freshest ingredients available in traditional dishes re-imagined with his recognizable technique.

 

Patrick Brown

After the Burmese military government’s brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks and other peaceful protestors in September 2007, the constant refrain was, “What happened to the monks?” Many monks were arrested, threatened, beaten, and imprisoned. It is a sad and disturbing story, but one that exemplifies the harsh rule of Burma’s military government as it clings to power through violence, fear, and repression. Pat Brown returned to Burma two years on from the protests. His photos were used in the Human Rights Watch report The Resistance of the Monks: Buddhism and Protest in Burma. They tell the story of large numbers of monks who left their monasteries, returning to their villages or sought refuge in other countries. And it tells the story of monks who remained, many of whom live under constant surveillance.

 

Zalmaï

Return to Afghanistan
Exiled at the age of 15, the Afghan photographer returned to document his homeland in 2001. Against the backdrop of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, Zalmaï reminds the world of the plight and courage of millions of refugees who have returned to Afghanistan and of their desperate need for assistance in rebuilding their lives.
"My project tries to capture the determination and the courage of a people that has rarely known peace, their optimism against all odds, and their worry that Afghanistan could still return to the nightmarish condition it is trying to escape."