What a treat it was to be able to work with Dardinelle Troen with her vision of creating visuals for the Mark Spencer Hotel. She conceived the bold art pieces as illusionary extensions of the hotel environment.
Here are the three photographs I created, each giving me some of the most challenging technical considerations I have ever faced. And I loved every minute of making these! These snapshots don’t do justice as opposed to seeing them in person.
Two of my images placed in the 12th Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Awards: The Salt Workers (First Place, Landscapes + Seascapes) and Maasai Warrior (Honorable Mention, Portrait).
The Salt Workers image will be exhibited in Barcelona April 11-27, 2019.
The Salt Workers image was created while on assignment with Dignity Period and Oregon Health & Sciences University and is part of an on-going series of images depicting the salt workers in the Afar region of Ethiopia.
Maasai Warrior was created while on assignment with Maternity Africa and is part of a series of images created with the Maasai tribe near Arusha, Tanzania. This particular warrior was addressing his tribe regarding the dangers of obstructed labor for pregnant women.
Four of my images were selected to be exhibited in the upcoming “In Gratitude” exhibit at Lightbox Gallery, curated by Laura Valenti.
Opening reception is November 10, 2019 from 5-8pm.
What a delightful honor to be included in this exhibit!
Ugandan Mother
One of my images Jijiga, Ethiopia, created with my cell phone while on assignment with Mercy Corps in Jijiga, Ethiopia was part the “Constellations” exhibit at the Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery.
This show was curated by Robert Tomlinson and will run until September 9, 2018.
An exciting aspect of this show was that one of my long-time crushes, Steve Buscemi, attended the opening!
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
My image “Man Mesmerized” won First Prize in the “One” exhibit, curated by Aline Smithson, sponsored by the New York Center For Photographic Arts in New York City.
The print will be shown at Jadite Galleries in Hell’s Kitchen with an opening reception on April 5, 2018.
Man Mesmerized
My image “The Homesteader” captured in Fossil, Oregon has been selected for exhibition in the traveling show, “Cascadia 2018“, opening at Crossroads-Carnegie Art Center in Baker City on April 6. The exhibition will travel to The Dalles in May and then to Corvallis in July.
What is even more exciting to me is that two other artists (Kristin Renzema and Nancy Smithman) who made images in this area during one of our workshops also were selected to exhibit their images.
Submission statement:
The goal of the exhibit is to interpret the authentic Oregon experience, and to challenge artists to look at the urban/rural divide through their lenses and show us stories about our similarities, rather than our differences. We chose the word “Cascadia” as a reference to the Cascadia Subduction Zone (or fault), which stretches the entire length of the Oregon Coast, as well as further north and south. It is this fault line that is the source of much of the volcanic activity that created the Oregon Landscape and the Cascades, which have traditionally been the dividing line of our state. In fact, it is a very long, sloping subduction zone that separates the Explorer, Juan de Fuca and Gorda Plates from the North American Plate — the Cascadia subduction zone is where the two plates meet, and it is at “Cascadia” where Oregon meets.
My image “Waving Tablecloths in Madagascar” won First Prize in the “Patterns and Shadows” exhibit, curated by Stephen Perloff, sponsored by the New York Center For Photographic Arts in New York City.
The print will be shown at Jadite Galleries in Hell’s Kitchen with an opening reception on April 5, 2018.
One of my photos created while on assignment with Hamlin Fistula Hospital was selected by juror William Albert Allard to be in Darkroom Gallery’s “Multiples” show. The exhibit opens September 14 in Essex Junction, Vermont.
These women each had been treated for fistula and were living in Hamlin’s rehabilitation center, Desta Mender, where they learned new skills such as reading, writing and math after their surgeries were completed.
Many women are ostracized by their villages when they develop a fistula, and often they must find new ways of supporting themselves. Undaunted by their struggles, they form a bond while residing at the hospital and help each other heal emotionally. New confidence is found, and together they help each other find new paths to walk, unbridled by the injury they suffered.
Fistulas can develop many ways, but most often it occurs due to obstructed labor. Dr. Catherine Hamlin saw the great need for prevention efforts and developed a midwifery college where young village girls are trained in midwifery and other maternal health care actions in Addis Ababa after which they return to their villages to provide much needed care in their remote home areas.
It has been an honor to stand in front of these brave women, the fistula survivors and the new midwives, and realize how devoted they are to their own healing and to the healing of others.
Desta Mender graduates 2015
A great time was had at the opening of the Lightbox Gallery PDX 30 show that I curated this month. Portland photographers and other viewers gathered for a lively reception followed by a wild ride on Jeff Daly‘s Glam Tram.
This little gallery is well loved, and it was an honor to be the curator for this show.
(Photo by Michael Granger, founder of Lightbox Gallery)