Two Extraordinary Opportunities

I’d like to remind you that the Global Humanitarian Forum is accepting submissions until April 15^th. If you are a young photographer between 18 and 35, this is a chance that you should not pass up.

Also, if you are a curator please visit this link. Last year’s Prix Pictet Event is going on tour and are open to discussing proposals for hosting the exhibit.

Opportunities like this aren't abundant, especially of this caliber, and the deadlines are closer than you think. Please do not pass these up.

Recent News and Our Appreciation

The week in London is over for Ed and certain organizations stand out above the rest, whether it is due to their professionalism, reputation, seniority or simply effort. In recent days we have had some reviews that have left us all humbled and deeply appreciative.

First, is the excellent gallery put together by Lucy Davies at the London Telegraph, which showcases the heart breaking dilemma faced in the Niger Delta and helps spread knowledge that this cause deserves.

The Guardian, another London based newspaper, has also dedicated a piece of their website to exhibit some of Ed’s work, helping us spread the word for the people of Niger Delta.

Charlie Beckett, who took part in and wrote a blog post about the recent event at the London College of Communications. It let us know that people do indeed listen, and people do indeed care about the evolving nature of the relationships we share with NGOs, the nature of photojournalism, the conflicting emotions with advocacy work and making a living, and indeed the nature of media in this age of information flux.

We’re always happy to know that we’re making a difference - that people are actually moved by the work done in the studio, and we’ve seen that recently in a few fantastic posts.

Run Riot published a great synopsis of “Curse” as did Photographylot. Please visit their sites, it's important to keep the online photographic community alive.

Again, thank you very much. We’re truly honored and humbled.

Comments from Excellent Symposium in London's LCC

Yesterday I took part in an important, inspiring and illuminating conference that Paul Lowe orchestrated at the London College of Communication. We had a jam packed audience and the discussion centered on photojournalism and NGO partnerships and issues around this ever growing and evolving dynamic. Excellent work Paul! Below is a write up by Charlie Beckett, one of the participants and an important voice out of London.

Some Great Links To Share

I want to share a couple of links that deserve some attention. For instance, there is the Global Humanitarian Forum, which is accepting applications now for a competition trying to raise more awareness about Climate Change. It is a fantastic opportunity for any photographer between the ages of 18 and 35, as it promises the chance to take an active role in the cause and gain exposure as a young journalist. Please visit the link to learn more.

Also, there is a really good interview with Ed in a recent publication of Lucid Magazine that focuses on the deep rooted problems Nigeria faces. With the explosion of recent turmoil and incidents, now is a great time to find out a little more about what makes this country so important to the world.

A List of Exciting Events in London

Ed is on a whirlwind tour of London this week, taking part in a series of events related to his work in the Niger Delta and organized around a month long exhibition that opened tonight at the HOST Gallery and a day long symposium taking place tomorrow at the London College of Communication. If you are anywhere near the area, all are going to be well worth attending. Besides the opening of Curse of the Black Gold exhibition at HOST, there are a variety of events he's participating in that will be enriching for all those interested in photography, journalism, advocacy and art.

• Today, the 9th, there is private viewing and reception of the Curse exhibition at the HOST Gallery.
• On the 10th, Ed will be giving a lecture at the London College of Communication. His lecture will be part of a workshop/seminar on photojournalism and advocacy with Paul Lowe. The seminar will be from 10:30am to 5pm.
• Then from 6 to 9, you will be able to find Ed giving another lecture at the Frontline Club, addressing primarily his illegal arrest in Nigeria: a topic relatively rarely spoken about.
• Thursday the 11th Ed will be reviewing students' work at the LCC from 9 – 11am and then from 6 – 8 participating in a large symposium at the London School of Economics.
• Finally on Friday the 12th from 5 – 8pm, Ed will be back at HOST Gallery with Paul Collier and Dauda Garuba for the Sponsor/Civil Society reception.

It's a lot, it will be a challenge, but it will all be worth it. Come out if you can.

Ed Kashi on Syria, past and present

Today the NYT published an interview with me conducted by James Estrin for the New York Times LENS blog. We talk my work from Syria in the 1990's and the present day, discussing what changes, if any, have taken place in this important and fascinating country. As I've said in the past, Syria is a country that the United States must be friends with and achieve a deeper level of trust and cooperation with. They are too important a linchpin to not only peace but deeper and healthier connections to the Arab world and the Middle East.

NYT LENS Blog

IMPACT Online Exhibition

Welcome to the new IMPACT online exhibition, a project exploring the internet as a venue for insightful photographic work. In an effort to remind viewers of the important role photographers play around the world, we invited an array of imagemakers to share galleries on their blogs (like this one) that comprise up to 12 images representing an experience where they had an impact on the subject or were impacted themselves. By clicking on the links below the IMPACT logo, you can move through the exhibition, viewing other galleries by different photographers. You can also click the IMPACT logo to be taken to a post on the liveBooks RESOLVE Blog where you can see an index of all participating photographers. We hope that by linking different photographic visions of our first topic, "Outside Looking In," we can provide a multifaceted view of the topic as well as the IMPACT individuals can have on the world around us.

Fady. That is a word you hear repeatedly in Madagascar. Recently, while working on a project in southeastern Madagascar, I encountered a particular fady. This fady was creating a roadblock that was impacting my project, preventing me from getting close to one particular aspect of my story. In Malagasy culture fady means taboo and this superstitious vein in their culture is still alive and vibrant. It seems to impact their daily life in profound ways, creating the organizing principals for how they structure their villages, their behaviors and their do’s and don’t’s. A fady can decide where the outside toilet is placed, therefore determining the paths in and out of your village, or the places you can plant your food and keep your zebu (cattle). And these beliefs are ancient and must be respected, particularly by an outsider with a camera.

One fady I kept on pushing up against happened every time we came upon one of their sacred burial grounds. The Malagasy people have a spiritual connection to their forests and their burial grounds. 90% of their forests have been decimated from centuries of unabated logging, mostly to support their meager form of subsistence living. And their burial sites, unavoidable with huge slabs of granite mixed in with Christian influenced tombstones, adorned zebu horns and other ancestral elements, were traditionally were hidden deep in their forests. Now they are exposed out in open clearings, and in some cases just by the side of the road. I was explicitly told that I could photograph them, but only from the road! I absolutely could not take a step off the road or enter into these private but exposed sanctuaries, that in some cases held burial sites that were hundreds of years old.

I was in Madagascar working with a UK based charity, Azafady, and was accompanied by their director, Mark Jacobs, who has been going to Madagascar for 11 years. One very sunny and bright day, while returning from a village two hours north of Fort Dauphine, our base, we came upon a boisterous group of men on the rutted dirt road. They were of all ages, many drunk and stoned. They were carrying a 2 meter long slab of granite on two long wooden poles, decorated by green shoots and foliage from the forest. We suddenly realized this was a funeral procession and jumped out of our vehicle. Upon approaching them, we came to learn that this was a stone laying ceremony for a recently deceased elderly woman from a nearby village.

As we asked more questions and they noticed my camera, they got agitated and told us to leave and that we couldn’t take photographs of this scene. We asked why and Mark, along with our wonderful Malagasy friend, Lala, explained that we were from Azafady and were interested in showing their culture. One of the older men in the group, who couldn’t have been more than 40, suddenly said, yes, we could join them to the burial grounds and it was indeed acceptable to make photographs as well. Suddenly this scene turned into an energized experience, where I was allowed into a normally private ceremony. Mark turned to me and said he had never experienced anything like this in his 11 years coming here, and when we enetered the burial grounds, walking in the midst of these towering, white tomb stones, sharing alcohol with the men, while sitting an listening to the speeches, I sensed the impact we were having on these people. I also realized, once again, the impact an inquisitive but sensitive photographer can have on a situation, opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to the outsider.

Get Your Free Web Ring Webring by Bravenet.com

The Daily Kos Essay and Nigeria's Sea Change

The Daily Kos has just posted a fantastic essay written by Sven Eberlein revisiting the history and complications in the political state of Nigeria – something that should be closely studied to understand the inevitable shockwaves that will be felt on an international scale.

With Goodluck Jonathan, the newly unexpected and unorthodoxly appointed president being from the Niger Delta, the world is and should be watching closely. There is every opportunity for change in not only the Political State, but the Mental, Economic, Ethical and perhaps even Cultural State as well.

It seems that the most pervasive worry about Goodluck’s seating is that he will be veered from his agenda by government bodies comprised of little more than sycophants and corrupt heads of power. Both of these brands of men, their actions and etiquette are the product of decades of foreign influence and financial corruption. Foreign corporations and the remnants of imperialism are at the root of the problem, and need to be addressed immediately.

It is for all of these reasons and the national and environmental circumstances in Nigeria, that yesterday’s development is simply exhilarating.

Please take the time to read Sven’s essay on Daily Kos, crossposted on his own blog. It is very well written and illustrates the history of the well-warranted skepticism the world has as it watches Goodluck’s assent.

An Open Letter From The Friends of NEGIP Network

Through facebook we were sent this message from The Friends of NEGIP Network, an advocacy group which rallies for sustainable energy in Nigeria - a topic that is close to our heart. Originally I intended to edit it down, but realized that each sentence is too important for the statement, and that it wouldn't be fair for Deji Adenusi, one of the administrators of the group. Here it is in its entirety, eloquently written and well worth the short amount of time it will take to read.

IS THERE ANY SOLUTION TO NIGERIA'S CONSTANT POWER OUTRAGE ?

The revelation that the administration of the former president of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo "spent" about $16.00 billion on energy and power with no appreciable impact on Nigeria's energy and power sector. We recall that at the inception of the current civilian dispensation in the year 2000, the former President raised the genuine hopes and yearnings of the average Nigeria when he said: "On my honour, by the end of 2001, they (Nigerians) would begin to enjoy regular, uninterrupted power supply".

On the heels of that solemn promise came the creation of the Liyel Imoke Technical Committee on Energy and Power. However, today the problem of endemic power outages still pervade as the nation remains in darkness. The Electricity Power Sector Reform Act 2005 was promulgated on March 5, 2005, to liberalize the energy sector and break the monopoly in the industry. The Act also established the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). The legislation was passed in a bid to resuscitate the power sector. In spite of all these Committees and legislations, the sector remains epileptic. Current and ongoing investigations by the legislature highlight an unfortunate scenario of allegations and counter pandering on the part of government officials.

To date, there is no agreement on the actual figure expended in the energy sector between 1999-2007. This in itself is very worrisome. Equally, recent revelation that due process through public tender of energy contracts was never followed is regrettable when such contracts were solely awarded between the minister and General Olusegun Obasanjo's (rtd) presidency. We have equally taken note of the award of electricity contracts to blacklisted companies by the former President which amounts to a betrayal of the trust of the Nigerian people still saddled with the torture of continued epileptic power supply and broken promises.

Energy is the engine that drives industrialization, which improves communication, helps innovation in science and Technology, provides sound healthcare delivery system and improves citizens' standard of living. Since energy is the engine that drives industrialization, a sound energy policy would indirectly create jobs even in unexpected sectors. Considering the central and pivotal role electricity plays in an economy, we fully endorse President Musa Yar'Adua's position that,

"we must solve this problem because until we do that, we cannot address the fundamental problems of our economy like poverty and unemployment. Even while the circumstances may be different, we may need to follow the telecommunication formula in order to solve the nation's power and energy problems. Our ultimate goal is to achieve what we did with the GSM or I declare a state of emergency in the sector...Power is a key priority of this administration and we all agreed that our efforts at developing the nation cannot succeed unless we solve the power problem."

Addressing the electricity crisis is one of President Umaru Yaradua's seven-point agenda promised Nigerians while on his 2007 campaign trail. An Energy Council was set up. In addition an 11-man Committee for the Accelerated Expansion of Nigeria's Power Infrastructure was inaugurated on Tuesday, February 19, to deliver 6,000 additional megawatts over the next 18 months and add an extra 11,000 megawatts by 2011. To day the reverse is the case has power has dropped to 2000 mega watts what is was some 4 years ago . Nigerians can no longer bet on government promises because of monumental failures to keep promises made in the past. Any real moves must be bold, private sector-driven and devoid of bureaucratic bottlenecks. There has to be time lined Electricity Development Plans backed by statutes. The Nigerian Society of Engineers ought to be directly involved at all levels.

I believe that a sound Energy Policy is not and should not be limited solely to electricity production from fossil fuel - Oil & Gas and/or Nuclear Energy Sources. There are of course better, and more efficient and environmentally friendly ways of generating electricity. The following sources must be tapped - Biomass, Geothermal, Hydro Power, Nuclear (fission and fusion), Ocean waves, Solar, Wind, and other pollution free renewable sources.

As a responsible corporate citizen I encourage the Nigerian government in conjunction with other stakeholders to focus her energy policy strategy on areas such as Solar, Wind, Ocean waves and Biomass. These are energy areas that most developing nations like Nigeria can exploit safely and efficiently. They are also environmentally sound.

The acting President Good luck Jonathan has a chance for a new beginning and a renaissance to building a proud and industrial nation. He must tap into the entrepreneurial spirit and bring on board "the can do attitude" of his fellow citizens.

In the meantime, we urge the National Assembly to step up its oversight functions so as to find answers to the whereabouts of the $16 billion that the last administration claimed to have invested in the power sector and move the nation forward by ensuring that recent promises by the current administration remain a marked difference from previously failed promises.