Continuing our celebration for astonishing yet under-appreciated workers of our world, we are excited to announce that the planning of a new book is in the conceptual stage under the working title “The Salt Workers of Afar“.
This book will include portraits of Ethiopian salt workers and editorial images of their process of extracting salt from the hottest place on earth in the Danakil Depression, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Many stories have been written about this area recently including this article from the New York Times.
This book will be the second in a series depicting workers around the world. The first book focusing on market workers from Bahir Dar, Ethiopia was published in 2014.
Content for the book was obtained during several visits to the Afar region beginning in 2013. Most recently in February of 2018, a small team traveled to the area to set up a portable studio as part of a Prints For Prints project, donating photographic prints to each worker they interviewed. In addition to giving a cherished photograph to the nomadic workers, sunglasses were distributed which were donated from nursing home members in Coos Bay.
Events are planned to celebrate this nomadic culture, a tribe of people who shun modern tools and mechanization in favor of being led on foot by the sun and moon and shape their salt blocks by hand using ancient salt picks.
Current events are:
April 13-14, 2018, Where We Began: Night-time image video and sound projection on buildings in Astoria, Oregon as part of the IlluminART festival
August + September, 2018, The Salt Workers of Afar, print exhibit at Pushdot Studio in Portland, Oregon, reception August 2, 7-9PM
Contact us if you have questions or ideas about the project. We would love to hear from you!
Images from the Afar region of Ethiopia
