Over a period of four months in 2019, Christopher Wilton-Steer travelled 40,000km overland by car, bus, train, ferry, horse and camel from London to Beijing traversing sixteen countries photographing for The Silk Road: A Living History exhibition.

In this talk, Christopher shares his experiences of the varied people, places and cultures he encountered and speaks about the work of the Aga Khan Development Network along this most celebrated of trade routes. Enjoy the journey!

Christopher is travel photographer and serves as Head of Communications for the Aga Khan Foundation UK. Christopher’s professional and personal work take him to remote locations across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Through his photography, he is interested in exploring less well documented parts of the world in an effort to build bridges of interest and understanding between different cultures.

His work has been featured in magazines and newspapers around the world including National Geographic, The Guardian, CNN, Financial Times, and Der Spiegel amongst others. He had his first exhibition at the Institut Française in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in November 2016. Christopher’s second exhibition — The Artisans of al-Darb al-Ahmar: Life and Work in Historic Cairo — was shown at the London’s Royal Geographical Society in April 2018. The same exhibition was shown at Philanthropy House in Brussels between January and April 2019 and will (restrictions permitting) tour Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver in 2021.