We are especially excited for this, as this image is being considered as a cover for the upcoming book that will be released in September 2014.
All images from The Mercato Workers series were taken in the market in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
The title of my lecture was “Humanity Before Us: Crossing The Cultural Divide“. I spoke about the lessons I garner from the various cultures I am assigned to photograph. This also includes my own self assignments with “cultures” such as my own family background and heritage. Coming to terms with our own reflection can be daunting at times, and I wanted this lecture to expose the good and the bad and everything in-between.
We are human. We all make mistakes. What is most enriching and important is how we take our own platforms of experience and adversity and move them into new ventures, relationships and art.
Here is a poem written by the Greek playwright Aeschylus that I have loved since I was a very young girl:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
(Photo by Jon Combs of Pro Photo Supply)
I am especially happy when images from Ethiopia get this kind of notice as the people there are so incredibly beautiful, inside and out.
Come on out to one of my favorite cities in the world, Astoria, Oregon, to see the show and experience the chaos and quirkiness where the river meets the sea.
The artist reception will be from 6-9pm on April 12, 2014 at Lightbox Gallery.
Acosia at Lightbox Gallery, image by Michael Granger
They wanted something with a gritty street look and feel, and requested that I send images of the “real” Portland and a few other areas: from skateboarders to drag queens to strippers to authors and everything in-between. I was also asked to create a few images for their sponsors as a thank you for their support.
This week the book will finally go to the printers and we could not be more excited to see it come hot off of the presses. The book is available only to participants of the 2014 TEDxPortland talks.
If you want to take one home with you, get your tickets here.
Soon after we arrived, we met up with my transportation and translator team in Ethiopia and they surprised us by taking us to see a football match between Ethiopia and Nigeria projected on a big screen which was set up in a beautiful park. It was the perfect place for both groups to get to know each other in a spirited setting.
The next morning, we got up early, grabbed our gear, and set out to go to Sheno, Ethiopia, the childhood home of our guide, Dani. His family let us set up the printers in their home so we could make photos and give prints to his extended family and to villagers around the area. It did not take long to get the process up and running, and within a few minutes we cranked out our first print.
It was a beauty!
I also brought prints that I had made before I left from images captured a year before and gave them to the family. It was an honor to spend time in this village and to see how much our prints were appreciated.
Once our process was humming along, we then branched out and made prints in various locations around Addis Ababa and in smaller villages outside of the city, some as far away as Lalibela and Arba Minch.
One other commitment of the Prints For Prints project is to train local students on various aspects of photography, in one-on-one sessions. We were fortunate to be able to coordinate this training with DESTA for Africa and the Nike Foundation’s Girl Hub projects.
It was especially gratifying to watch local students in the workshop take over the printing, and make and donate prints to others that they met on the streets and in compounds.
We printed from any spot we could find, and even sometimes while on the go!
We also loved giving our cameras to the subjects and letting them photograph us. Such fun!
We made prints in places we never imagined, such as on top floors of high rise construction sites, and also in hospitals in remote areas of the Afar region.
I also brought a print for each market worker I had photographed a year ago. We laid the prints out on the ground, and people searched for those they saw in the prints. My Ethiopian friend Habtamu and I gave each worker who arrived a print of themselves and they were really happy to receive it.
Here are two of my finished portraits, created in two scenarios. The first image is Fatuma and her daughter Semed, right outside of their kitchen where they prepare food for a hospital in the Afar region. The second image shows Raya in his place of employment, a construction site in the Bole region of Ethiopia.
There is much to process about this first trip, and I look forward to making a few changes to the process so that we can have an even better experience during the next offering of this service.
Thank you to the community of photographers and other supporters who generously donated their prints, time and ideas to make this project fly!
Joni Kabana, Portland, Oregon, USA
I am especially happy that not much else is needed in the frame of this picture – the Ethiopian spirit is so commanding in and of itself.
So this November, I will be traveling to Ethiopia with a small team of photographers and we will set up a small portable studio in several villages. We will capture portraits and donate the prints to the families we photograph. In addition, each US photographer will be paired with an Ethiopian photographer so there is an exchange of talents: technical skills, cultural awareness, and love for humanity.
We are planning a fundraiser to help with the costs for this project. The concept is simple: we are calling the fundraiser “Prints For Prints”, and we will auction matted prints from photo-loving friends (both amateur and professional photographers). The prints will be sold at a very reasonable “affordable art” cost ($50-100 sliding scale) during a fun and relaxed party, followed by music by Portland’s very own Ethiopian funk band: The Tezeta Band!
This event will be held on August 8, 2013 starting at 7pm at the Secret Society Ballroom and we hope you will be able to attend.
All ages welcome until 8:30pm, then it is 21+.
Follow me at @jkabana on Instagram during November to see this project in action.
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PrintsForPrints
See our Website to view all of the prints and the fabulous photographers!
(Villagers in Marovoay, Madagascar look at a Polaroid photo that was just made with their family.)
(Photo by Sean Sheridan for Mercy Corps)