We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Douglas Busch. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Douglas below. He was just awarded the 2023 Distinguished Legacy Award from the University of Illinois, an honor reserved for the college’s most inspiring alumni and supporters. He has attained outstanding success and national and international distinction in their chosen profession or life’s work, and whose accomplishments reflect admirably on, or bring honor to, the college and the University of Illinois.

Douglas, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Genos Center Foundation: Our mission is to teach tolerance, inspire reflection and allow visitors to form new ties between their understanding of history and their emotional subconscious through the power of art.

Our vision is for visitors to see the artwork and the world from a new perspective. Through art we can raise awareness, understanding and promote healing as we recognize not only the past but the present. How are we to truly acknowledge the atrocities of the past in order to prevent them from repeating themselves today? To critically explore the duality of human nature and the co-existence of good and evil, we need to look into the past and it’s reflections of the present. This remembrance helps participants to engage in studying sensitive or traumatic history which in turn opens a space for philosophical and humanistic reflection. This is an opportunity for the international community to unify and look into the mirror of society with the goal of preventing the cyclical madness of extreme bigotry. We hope this work highlights characteristics of human nature that affects every society, as well as the inclination for simple answers to difficult problems. Education and knowledge are the most effective weapon against intolerance and ignorance, especially in a world so full of misinformation, manipulation, and denial. Our silence in the face of hate are acts of complicity; we must do better than those who came before us.

Douglas, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I Am Doug Busch, a photographer known for using the world’s largest portable view cameras and negatives to produce the world’s largest photographic contact prints, along with being an architectural designer for celebrity clientele throughout California. Ask Me Anything!

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Hello Reddit, I am very excited to be here for my first ever AMA. Over the last 50 years I have been an artist, architectural designer, inventor, teacher, gemologist, philanthropist, and photographer.

You can view all the different endeavors I have been involved in at www.DouglasBusch.com

After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1973, I moved to California and worked as an assistant to Morley Baer and Al Weber along with assisting Ansel Adams in the darkroom on Portfolio VI. My work at SuperLarge™ Photography encompasses an array of subjects, including landscapes, cityscapes, nudes, portraits, and color and is part of the collections at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA.

My imaginative eco-friendly, sustainable architectural work and drought-tolerant landscape designs have allowed me to work with many of my colleagues throughout the United States through my firm Busch Design Build Inc. including designing the late Bob Saget’s home and others featured in Los Angeles Times, Robb Report, and Malibu Times. Through EcoTech Design Studio my vision for an eco think-tank, learning and demonstration center known as the EcoPark can be seen here before it was lost in the Woolsey Fire in 2018.

With a dedication to the principles of HEALTHY design and sustainable building I launched pH Living: Healthy Housing Systems, with the goal of providing homes for people who suffer from environmental allergies and chemical sensitivities (MCS). I also developed the first modular, patented self-watering vertical gardening system designed for urban spaces offering an affordable organic herb and vegetable garden that can be used right out of the box called Farm in a Box™.

My philanthropic work includes the No Strings Foundation, where we provided no-strings-attached grants for photographers providing direct assistance to photographic image makers in an effort to facilitate and enhance their creative opportunities and endeavors.

Earlier this year I publicly announced my legacy project that I have been working on for the past many years. The Genos Center Foundation is a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit created to develop the Genos Center, a planned multicultural art gallery, non-denominational chapel and reflective gardens focused on eradicating genocides worldwide giving a voice to marginalized communities by raising awareness, promoting healing, and providing new perspectives on past and present issues.

The mission of the Genos Center is to teach tolerance through the power of art inspiring reflection and allowing visitors to form new ties between their own current understanding of history and emotional subconscious.

Before 1944, the term “genocide” didn’t exist. Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer, crafted this special phrase to portray Nazi policies of deliberate extermination during the Holocaust.

Genocide remains tragically overlooked in the public eye, so it’s essential that we don’t allow our words – “Never again” – to remain empty rhetoric. We must take tangible action and ensure that these powerful words become a reality.

Unfortunately, those steps have not been taken and we have seen similar atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, and Libya. Little has been done to address and promote a greater understanding of the causes and dynamics of genocide, such as ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Our vision is for visitors to see the artwork and the world from a new perspective. Through Art and education we can raise awareness, understanding and promote healing as we recognize not only the past but the present. In the last century alone over 50 Million lives have been unjustly taken. If genocidal policies and colonialism continue, some groups of people will cease to exist.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding for me as an artist, creative, inventor, teacher, builder is the freedom, flexibility, and the ability to take on the projects I feel are important to myself and society.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is very simple. Keep going and follow the path wherever it takes you. My path has been long and winding, filled with many potholes and obstacles but I keep trying.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: [email protected]
• Facebook: [email protected]
• Linkedin: [email protected]
• Twitter: [email protected]
• Youtube: [email protected]
• Yelp: [email protected]

Image Credits
Stephen W. Douglas and Douglas Busch