If you’re in NYC between March 25 and April 19, you should plan a trip out to the powerHouse Arena (in DUMBO), to see the exhibition of images from Kristen Ashburn’s new book, I Am Because We Are.

“I AM BECAUSE WE ARE is a book that touches the heart. In photographing the grieving, devastated, still beautiful, children of Malawi, victims of the AIDS epidemic that has murdered their parents, Kristen Ashburn gives everyone on the planet the opportunity to come to the aid of those most bereaved and helpless in this world,” said Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple. “It is a rare gift she gives: for we know in our deepest emotions that without the world coming to the defense and care of these children, the least of these, there will be no world peace.”

I Am Because We Are is the companion volume to the acclaimed forthcoming documentary film directed by Nathan Rissman and written and produced by Madonna. This book of images by award-winning photojournalist Kristen Ashburn—culled from her work in Malawi and Africa over the past seven years as well as from her specially commissioned photographs for the film—provides an intimate look at the lives of eight Malawian children featured in the film and reveals the harsh reality of the AIDS pandemic throughout southern Africa.

Author proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the charity Raising Malawi for their extensive work with orphans throughout Malawi. For more information on Raising Malawi, please see www.raisingmalawi.org