My photo, Mother Admiration, was juried by Tricia Hoffman into Lightbox Photographic Gallery’s upcoming “PDX 30” show. The opening will be April 9 in Astoria, Oregon.
This print will be on display and for sale as well as 29 more amazing prints from Portland photographers. Well worth the drive out there to this quirky and wonderful coastal place!
Print sale! This super large print was made from a cellphone image I captured while in Zanzibar.
Thanks to PushDot Studio, the print looks stunning, even at this size. The owner specified the size to fit a frame she has that was made in a far away land. I can’t wait to see it all put together – two cultures hanging together as one.
Two of my images “Nola Queahpama” and “Roper Boys” will be shown and for sale at the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg, Oregon in the “People of the NW, Photographed by Artists of the NW” show, curated by Jan Sonnenmair, running March 15 – May 7.
Nola Queahpama, Warm Springs
I love to see how clients use my imagery. The Dignity Period website is full of images I captured, but the way they used this one just blows me away. Their whole focus is so inspiring! The founder, Freweini Mebrahtu, will soon be in Portland to brainstorm an idea we both have….more to come on that!
Dignity Period will be hosting their annual gala on April 30 at the Missouri Botanical Garden, where they will auction ten of my prints from Ethiopia.
My photo “A Quest For Healthcare in Ethiopia” was selected by juror Peter Turnley to be included in the “Culture” show at the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont. The show opens March 3, with reception held on March 19.
A few images from the “Where We Began” series were awarded a Silver medal in the 2014 Prix de la Photographie Competition in Paris, France this week.
I will be returning to the Afar region of Ethiopia this December to further develop the series. It is my hope that these images will bring awareness to the critical needs of these nomadic tribes.
Please see the Barbara May Foundation regarding ways you can join this rally. For large USA based donations, contact me for the 501C3 organization that directly funds this organization and its highly effective projects.
For more information, please refer to the Afar Pastoralist Development Association.
Acosia Red Elk, color version, will be shown in the upcoming PDX Photo Month Exhibit, curated by Chris Bennett, from April 12 – May 6, 2014.
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
Our first Prints For Prints project was quite the ride! Having only worked with the printers a few times before we left, we were a bit nervous about how we would perform in the field under extreme conditions. And we also did not know how we would work as a group, in Africa.
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 just returned from spending some amazing time with two groups of photography students in Ethiopia and I could not be more excited!
Each student had a different skill set level, but each and every one of them had an incredible eagerness to learn and their love for the craft was so very apparent. Passion abounds in Ethiopia for learning photography!
However, some students did not have access to a camera and had to borrow ours for the day. I would love to find cameras, lenses, photography books, and other supplies to donate to the new photography school that is being developed by the amazing Aida Muluneh through her DESTA For Africa organization.
Any donations can be sent or dropped off to me and I will ensure that they go directly to the school.
Many thanks for your consideration!
Prints For Prints participant Bill Purcell gives a quick lesson to a student in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia:
A student gives a print to a shoe shine woman and her baby:
Aida Muluneh and I, on the first day we met each other:
We just found out that my image “Selam” was a winner in the 2013 Bioethics Art Competition. It is a true honor for this image to be selected for this award by the judges our of so many entries from around the world.
More importantly, we are happy that the beauty of the Ethiopia spirit is celebrated here.
