I didn’t realise we had arrived at the school as the car pulled up outside a small shack in the middle of a dusty community. I was with I-India for an NGO photography shoot, a small grassroots organisation based in the desert city of Jaipur, India. As I’ll explain in another blog post, a series of coincidences had lead me to contact I-India and offer my services as a volunteer photographer. Due to changing financial times, the not for profit organisation has seen a decline in donations from its international funders over the past couple of years which means they will probably have to cut up to 30% of their projects in the next year. On the ground, this means that hundreds of vulnerable children will go hungry. I met some of these children. They are as innocent and loveable as any children I’ve met, but the fact that they were born into poverty in India means that their fate is very different from that of children where I’m from, Australia. I-India has saved them from child labour, child marriages, homelessness, begging on the streets and more. The organisation’s dedicated staff runs a range of truly […] Read More
We had an amazing turn out to the opening night of Pachamama Exhibition on Thursday, 26 June. Art lovers from all over Sydney came to view images of indigenous peoples of Latin America, by five photographers including me. Each photographer’s set of images illustrated a theme relating to the people’s relationship with Pachamama: Tradition by Alicia Fox Displacement by Rodrigo Llauro & Natalia Cartney Reconnection by Guillermo Rossi Adaptation by Armando Vega Relationship by Toril Pursell All photos were for sale, with a percentage going to NGOs assisting the people in the photographs. Images (framed and unframed) are still available for purchase, so feel free to contact me if you are interested. Below is a short excerpt from a call out by Survival International, an NGO working to protect isolated tribes in regions including the Amazon. It explains why rapid action to help vulnerable tribes people is important. “An alarming number of uncontacted Indians have been sighted fleeing Peru and entering Brazil. Brazil’s Indian Affairs Department has warned that they face imminent “death” as they enter into the territory of other uncontacted tribes and settled communities. Rampant illegal logging in Peru is believed to be at the heart of this impending disaster. There are only about 100 uncontacted tribes left in […] Read More
Cuba Pobre Cubans showed me that in some ways their country is one of the richest places on Earth. The music, the culture and the spirit of the people are so strong. So alive! But economically, many Cubans are struggling. Even with food rations that the government provides for the population, people are struggling to survive on wages which average just $15 per month. In March 2012 I shot a photo essay for Newsmax, documenting the poor side of Cuba. Completing this assignment lead me to meet and spend time with some outstandingly wonderful human beings whose spirits actually shone stronger because of their hardships. It lead me into buildings that were literally crumbling where families still lived and into a world where I got a brief sense of what life is like in a city where food is so scarce that a cup of rice or a couple of bananas are hard to come by. And all these hardships just make Cubans stronger; more unified and more positive. They are people who live for the moment, enjoying life simply because they were lucky enough to be born Cuban! To see more of my documentary photos please visit here Read More
