
Alegra Ally
FOUNDEr, president
director of expeditions
Alegra Ally is ethnographer and award-winning explorer and photographer, best known for her in-depth work Wild Born Project focusing on indigenous women. Her ability to produce photographs with profound emotional resonance and sensitivity earned her the Scott Pearlman Field Award for her expedition: ‘Women at the End of the Land’ in 2016 and dozens of other international awards both from the photography and exploration communities. Ally was named “A Modern Explorer” by the New York Times, and her recently published book “New Path- A Window into Nenets Life”, has been titled by photography books critics as one of 2019’s best photography books. Ally’s work is featured in several publications; The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Walt Disney Company, The Guardian, Maptia, Sidetracked, Shackleton Journal London, and the British Journal of Photography.
Ally first travelled solo to Papua New Guinea in 1997 at the age of 17, where she spent months living remote tribes. She crossed the Sepik River by canoe twice, trekked the Kokoda Trail, and became initiated into one of the Sepik tribes as well as into the Kosua tribe. Her first book describing her travels in Papua, “Touching Genesis”, was published in 2001.
She serves as a member in the Scott Pearlman Field award and the Flag and Honours Committees of The Explorers Club. Recently she served as an advisor to the BBC Natural History Unit for a “Human Planet” series. As an internationally recognized speaker Ally was invited to present the Wild Born Project in several midwifery organizations, including midwifery departments at various hospitals, photography schools and the Explorers Club Headquarters. Ally is currently writing her memoir and her thesis as part for her Masters of Research degree with focus on Anthropology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
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