War is only Half the Story:The Aftermath Project December 27, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Aftermath, Documentary, Education, Photojournalism, Publishing, War , add a commentThe Aftermath Project Volume 2 is out:
- Published September 2009: “War is Only Half the Story, Vol Two” features the work of 2008 grant winner Kathryn Cook (”Memory Denied: Turkey and the Armenian Genocide”) as well as special first finalist Natela Grigalashvili and finalists Tinka Dietz, Christine Fenzl and Pep Bonet.
I first met Sara Terry at Visa Pour l’Image in Perpignan, France in 2006 where she was promoting The Aftermath Project to photojournalists whose cachet was the war machine in action. She set up the Aftermath Project out of the exasperation she felt after the Bosnian crisis as that country tried to move beyond the “shadow of war”. Her aim was to start a new media dialogue about war which could lead to conflict prevention instead of conflict resolution.
I applied for the Aftermath Project Grant hoping to cover the resettlement issues of the Crimean Tartars who had been expelled from their homelands in Ukraine by Josef Stalin for “collaboration” post World War Two. Needless to say I didn’t get to the final selection process but on Christmas Eve I was delighted to buy War is only Half the Story Volume 1 from The Aftermath Project/ Aperture. The book had made it to the shelves of my favourite book store Planet Books in Mt Lawley, Perth, West Australia. The first two grant winners were Jim Goldberg, an authentic innovator in the documentary field for his work The New Europeans, and Wolf Boewig, a photographer who had covered the Sierra Leone conflict.
The other photographers represented in this book are Andrew Stanbridge (post war reconstruction in Laos), Asim Rafiqui (Haiti’s ongoing political violence), and Paula Luttringer ( a survey of sites in Argentina where the abduction of women and their children was part of the process of violence).
- War Is Only Half The Story: The Aftermath Project, Volume 1
Rhizome December 27, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Art, New Media , add a commentRhizome is located within the New Museum at:
235 Bowery
New York, NY
10002
Art Vocabulary
Rhizome’s classification system consists of terms that artists assign to their work. Artists choose from Rhizome’s vocabulary of new media terms as well as adding their own terms. When new terms reach a certain level of popularity they become part of Rhizome’s vocabulary.
Christmas December 22, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Australian photographers, Documentary, Publishing, Snapshots, Web , add a commentChristmas Day Posts
- Meike Marks with her dog Scarborough South Dog Beach Photo Bohdan Warchomij
- Gjøvik in Norway Photo Robert McPherson
- Gjøvik in Norway Photo Robert McPherson
- Gjøvik in Norway Photo Robert McPherson
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Gjøvik in Norway Photo Robert McPherson
Gjøvik in Norway Photo Robert McPherson
- Gjøvik in Norway Photo Robert McPherson
- Gjøvik in Norway Photo Robert McPherson
- Gjøvik in Norway Photo Robert McPherson
- A group of friends take shelter from the rain and enjoy ice cream on Christmas day, Brighton Le Sands, Sydney 2009 Photo Tom Williams
©
- The newly rebuilt Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Perth was full of parishoners at midnight mass Photo Bohdan Warchomij ©
- Michael Mella bodysurfing on Scarborough South Dog Beach West Australia Photo Bohdan Warchomij ©
- Shar from Sierra Leone Heading to Church on Christmas Day Morley West Australia Photo Bohdan Warchomij ©
Received some photos of a snow bound Paris from Ali Moon and thought it might be interesting to ask photographers to send me a photo from where they are on Christmas Day. Please send images 600 dpi widest side 72 dpi with captions in file info and will post the best images in a Christmas Day post. Forward images to
bohdan.warchomij@gmail.com
Paris Snowbound Photo Ali Moon
- Paris Snowbound Photo Ali Moon
Paris Snowbound Photo Ali Moon
L’Aquila- Giulio Petrocco December 21, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Afghanistan, Italy, Photojournalism , add a comment
- L’aquila – A Via Crucis is performed in the Piazza d’Armi refugee camp
The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. The main shock occurred at 3:32 local time on 6 April 2009, and was rated 5.8 on the Richter scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale; its epicentre was near L’Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, which together with surrounding villages suffered most damage.
The earthquake was felt throughout central Italy; 307 people are known to have died, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.
- Palazzo del Governo, the administrative centre of L’Aquila, with structural damage
Giulio Petrocco was there and comments on the current scenario:
“Nowadays big complexes of houses have been built in order to take the IDPs out from the camps and into some more decent accommodation. the fact is that the destruction caused by the quake cannot be fixed I think in less than 4-5 years. Too many tons of rubble to be cleaned out, too many things to rebuild or to fix. anyway. a lot has been done and a lot of people in l’aquila think that they’re on the right way to get back to some sort of normal life. The government said that the city might be declared a tax free zone for ten years in order to try to “bring back life to a dead body”. The biggest issue in fact in the next years might be to invert the diaspora effect that the quake had on the area of L’Aquila and to encourage newcomers to adopt the city and forget what happened.”
Giulio Petrocco is planning to head to Afghanistan with the Italian Carabinieri and will be writing for Metaphor Online.
Italy’s contribution to Afghanistan dates back to the spring 2002 when a squad of the Carabinieri’s Special Intervention Group (GIS), after accompanying former King Zahir Shah back to Afghanistan, remained in Kabul and trained his Afghan security team. A platoon of Carabineri, integrated into Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), carried out training activities in support of the Afghan National Police (ANP) through 2003. A Carabinieri team, with training functions, was then present in Herat from the outset of the Italian-led PRT in 2005 and cooperated with US training commands in support of the Herat-based Afghan police. Between 2007 and 2008, the Italian contribution in support of the Afghan Police sector reached its present size. As of today, Italy’s contribution in the police sector totals approximately 70 people, mainly Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza (financial police): 34 Carabinieri in Adraskan (Western Afghanistan) train the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP) in cooperation with CSTC-A; 13 Guardia di Finanza officers in Herat train the Afghan Border Police (ABP) and custom officers in cooperation with CSTC-A.
At the NATO Summit in Strasbourg-Kehl, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced a “Carabinieri surge”. The total number of Carabinieri will thus be brought shortly to 100. The added value of the Carabinieri training methodology is particularly appreciated by the US government which does not possess police forces with military (or militarized) status such as the Italian Carabinieri. The Italian contribution in support of the police sector is mirrored by Italy’s participation, as a full member, in the work of the International Police Coordination Board (IPCB) and in its relevant bodies. Italy has provided its financial contribution to the Law & Order Trust Fund (LOTFA), the UN managed financial instrument that supports building and equipping the Afghan police.
But Italy, consistent with its traditional pro-European stance, also supports the EU role in Afghanistan. On top of its other contributions, Italy is making a valuable contribution to EUPOL, as it has since that mission’s inception. An Italian Carabinieri officer has held the position of EUPOL Deputy Commander in recognition of Italy’s support to the mission. Nearly 20 officers (Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza and other contracted civilians) are integrated into the EUPOL and additional personnel from the Guardia di Finanza will soon join EUPOL. Overall, Italy is the third largest contributing nation to EUPOL. In cooperating with CSTC-A over the last years, the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza have continuously engaged both the Afghan authorities and the US commands in developing training curricula more in tune with a European approach to policing.
Brookings Institution Think Tank
- L’Aquila – Firefighters rescue squads look for survivors digging through the rubble of fallen buildings
Center December 14, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Portfolio Reviews, Publishing , add a comment
Center has announced Review Sante Fe and the Center Awards, with prizes including thousands in cash, exhibitions, publication, and the Sante Fe Workshops.
Center (formerly the Sante Fe Workshops) is a nonprofit organization that supports, promotes, and provides opportunity for gifted and committed photographers. Graham Miller was involved in the folio reviews at Center recently (see earlier Metaphor Online post) and they provided a significant boost to his career.
Center’s Review Santa Fe
EVENT DATE: JUNE 3-6, 2010
DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: JANUARY 27, 2010
- Image © Carolyn Drake; Design by Jeffrey Savage, Studio Savage
Mus Mus December 13, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Education, Publications, Publishing , add a commentMus Mus is a digital salon and collaboration that explores photography in a deeply philosophical way:
“mus-mus is a collaborative photography space that yokes ideas and images together in an experimental and playful way that seems most appropriate for an internet based salon of an increasingly post-consumer world. In keeping with this ethic we prefer a mildly anonymous position and ‘authorlessness’. Keeping mouths shut about who we are, we hope you will better know the pictures, projects and ideas.”
It incudes two important essays, one by Darius Himes and one by Ulrich Baer, that travel from the invention of photography through to the digital revolution, which is changing our perception of the world as we travel.
“The Digital Revolution
Fast forward 150 years. Photography has been theorized and debated within the parameters described above: as a melancholic medium that harbors news of our own mortality. But finally the history of photography is freed from the shackles of this restrictive understanding. Thanks to the digital revolution in the media, photography can finally unfold its true potential. “The digital environment allows image-makers to veer from a conventional, Newtonian view of the world to one that considers countless views,” as Fred Ritchen points out in After Photography (New York: Norton 2009, 1). The ease of digital photography allows us to invent new realities – just as previous photographers, from Marville and Atget to Cartier-Bresson invented a certain view of Paris that has stuck with us until today.”
Ulrich Baer “Paris and Photography as the Prospect of Possibility”
- In 1908, the Young Turks of the Committee of Union and Progress revolted against the despotic Sultan Abdu’l-Hamid. This brought to an end the centuries-old Ottoman Empire and paved the way for a semi-secular government based in the ancient city of Constantinople. With that singular, revolutionary act, all political and religious prisoners throughout the Empire were freed. Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, the man in a white turban pictured in the middle of this photograph, tasted freedom for the first time since childhood. He was 65 years old.
Abdu’l-Baha in Paris
Darius Himes
Harvest December 12, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Australian photographers, Documentary , add a comment
Wubin
Wubin is located 268km North of Perth, on the Great Northern Highway at the junction where the road turns off to Paynes Find and Meekatharra, or continues north to Mullewa. Wubin is one of the small towns in the Shire of Dalwallinu in the heart of the northern wheatbelt. I was lucky enough to visit the property of Alan and Jude Barnes on the opening day of harvesting with a young French photographer Ali Moon.
Here are some images from my brief experience on this sunburnt soil that rewards the toils of people close to the land.
Orange Revolution Anniversary December 8, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Australian photographers, Documentary, Photojournalism , add a comment
- A protester with a Madonna figurine in Kyiv’s Independence Square Photo Bohdan Warchomij
The years slip by almost unnoticed. November 21 was the fifth anniversary of the people’s revolution in Ukraine in 2004 and the Orange camp that won the runoff after a flawed election is in a mess leading up to another national election for President in January. Yulia Tymoshenko, in her second term as Prime Minister continues on her ambitious path, campaigning to improve her position in the electoral stakes.
This week she met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Yalta and secured an agreement on gas prices in 2010, which would mean that Ukraine would not be penalized for purchasing less gas than agreed. This was a major coup given the interruptions to gas supplies to Europe last year.
It improves her negotiating position.
Very little makes sense in Ukrainian politics, which continue to be corrupt.
Recently, for example, the International Monetary Fund, which last year provided a loan of $16.4 billion to help Ukraine, withheld $3.8 billion ostensibly because the president and the parliamentary opposition backed a rise in minimum wages of 20% next year. Old foes Yushchenko and Yanukovych cooperated in order to subvert the power of Tymoshenko.
Polls suggest that Tymoshenko is catching up with Yanukovych as the election’s frontrunner. A poll conducted by Ukrainian Project System on November 12, indicated that Yanukovych has the backing of 21.4% of voters to her 18.1%. Arseny Yatseniuk, in third place, has only 8% and is no longer a serious contender.
The most recent poll of the Razumkov Centre on a potential runoff between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych suggests that it would be a very close call.
The choice for voters seems rather stark. Yanukovych is still the arch apparatchik and bankrolled by Ukraine’s main oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. The Western media describe him as pro-Russian, but he is essentially a tool of eastern oligarchs, people who wish to maintain their influence and power over resources and industry.
Tymoshenko, on the other hand, is a ruthless politician with few clearly delineated principles other than her own advancement and power. In her first period as Prime Minister in 2005—it lasted only 9 months—she alienated most of her Cabinet. In the second, she has struggled to deal with the economic crisis. The Ukrainian economy shrank by almost 16% in the third quarter of 2009. The Ukrainian steel industry will take years to recover from a dramatic drop in trade abroad.
The next president will not only need to introduce radical economic measures. To date, the failure to form a workable coalition in the legislature, added to unseemly squabbles between the main leaders, has resulted in deadlock. In 2004, Yushchenko was the outsider, a potential candidate to end the rampant corruption in Ukraine and make a new beginning. In 2010 voters face a bleaker choice and the alternatives seems less clear-cut.
- A demonstrator in Independence Square Kyiv November 2005 Photo Bohdan Warchomij
The optimism that I saw on the faces of the Orange Revolutionaries in 2004 has surely disappeared during the long cold political winters facing an uncertain Ukraine.
Bohdan Warchomij worked for British and Canadian newspapers for three months during the Orange Revolution, exhibited at Foto Freo and Monash University in 2006 and published “Portrait of a Revolution”, an award winning book in October 2006.
An edited version of a report from David Marples (Edmonton Journal, 23 November 2009)
Philip Toledano December 6, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Publishing, Web , 1 comment so farThe web can astonish and transform us and our experiences. Benjamin Chesterton on RESOLVE points out why:
Phillip Toledano’s “Days With My Father” is a masterpiece. Its a love letter that has nothing to do with any of us but that is written in such a way that it could have come from the pages of any of our lives. Its a gift and it proves the web can be the best place to experience photography. The experience can be utterly transformative. No more words needed — just check it out.
http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/
Site by: http://www.fashionbuddha.com/
Snapshots December 6, 2009
Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Australian photographers, Snapshots , add a comment
- The inventiveness of children: created by a page girl at an indigenous wedding Photo Bohdan Warchomij
