Tse Tse Gallery

September 28th. Providence. Thats right. Its up again. The Project Mali photo exhibit is again on the run. The Tse Tse Gallery specializes in making an effort to use art as a tool to educate the community, both educationally and culturally. The images will be for sale and a percentage goes back to the GAIA Vaccine Foundation, Providence RI. More details can be found at the GAIA website or the Tse Tse Gallery.
GAIA VACCINE FOUNDATION
TSE GALLERY

The Vanity Fair Tribute to Africa

So there is an article in the new Vanity Fair Issue on the (RED) Products that I know I have sent out a blog or two about. Yes I know two people inparticular that I have bought (RED) for. I myself have a tshirt. So read the article, it talks about the biggest consumer-driven philanthroplogy to hit the world. Who knew by going and buying a tshirt, belt, sunglasses, etc..that you really liked, you would be helping pay for anti-retroviral HIV drugs for some of the poorest countries in Africa. This article shows what consumers like yourself have done in the past year. I applaud anyone who has had the sense to go out and buy the products.
Again the whole Vanity Fair issue this month is dedicated to giving you information on the areas, people, and causes that exist in Africa. AND most of all....how you can get involved. So take that summer enthusiasm and put it to good use.
info on Vanity Fair
info on (RED)

The AS220 Photo Lottery

Saturday April 28th 7-9pm.
Yes this is my first time participating in the Photo Lottery. The Tickets are $125 a piece. You buy a ticket and you win some art. Its as easy as that. You dont have to buy one to go, only if you want to win something (and support the AS220 darkroom, and the Broad Street Studio Photographic Memory). There are more details on the website. Overall AS220 is a non-profit community art center (gallery, darkroom, work/live studios, and bar/cafe) and Photographic Memory is program within AS220 for underserved youth to learn about photography. So I am donating one piece to the event. I have sent along a link in case you really want to learn more. Come join, have some fun, win some art and support a good cause.
www.as220.org/

The Battle Has Begun

So, I got this email from my cousin with these photos attached....the email made reference that dear Zachary is being brainwashed at quite a young age to like the Red Sox. I must put a stop to this.

Mali, AIDS, and Hope

Yes its about that time. I am shopping around for a home for my exhibit that has been up at Brown University. They are indeed the images from Mali, and as well some words to go along with them. I spent a month in Bamako, Mali documenting HIV Clinics and the people of the community for a non-profit organization here in RI. I would love to have another experience like this, and have become so aware of the issues that surround AIDS in Africa. A lack of education, lack of doctors, lack, lack lack...What more to say. Every little bit of help counts and I think awareness and spreading the word is so very important to start the ball rolling. It took me a while to feel that I am up to make another trip like this to document, but I am ready. So I am also looking around to see if there are other non-profits such as this that are looking for a face, some exposure. In the country or out of it. If y ouknow of anything please let me know.
There is a link to see the exhibit images, but if you scroll down youll get more specific stories and a lot more images. Enjoy.
Mali, AIDS and Hope

Zachary update

Ok so not really an update, but the first posting of many of the precious little Zachary. I went to go visit him and Mommy the other day, and he was very excited. He yawned, slept, streched, and slept some more. The perfect life. So he is now 2 and 1/2 mths old and blooming! I figured I would just keep posting images of him on here till he's about 18, and then all his girlfriends can come online to see what he looked like as a baby. The big question will still remain. Will he be a Yankees fan or a Red Sox fan?

Spring has sprung

Wow, ok here goes. I havent written in a bit, but things are getting there. What did we miss? Well I return back to school after a semester off in the fall. Yes you all thought the summer, but circumstances beyond my control have made it till Fall. So summer. I am finally getting back into the swing of being a photographer. I mean what else is there for me. Im doomed.
My dog these days has taken on a new personality, I like to call FREAK. But they say they take after the owner, so...hmmmm.Just setting you all up for my new postings, but in the meantime here are some recent misc affairs over the past couple of months.I will make a seperate post of baby zachery updates tomorrow.

Bolle Prison

I spent three days in an all women's prison. Now anyone that knows me might ask "what did she do now?" Well have no fear I was not in for anything except documenting the area and yet another round of Here Bolo. Maddie, Bay, Ramatoulaye, and Malick spent the days talking to the women about the five points of Here Bolo. Most of the women are in prison for prostitution, or killing their babies. It truly is poverty stricken cases. Out of fifty women, four could read. So the survey was taken and then we discussed with everyone the misconceptions of transmission, and the access to care if they were HIV positive. At the end they were given tshirts with the Here Bolo message, and surprisingly enough we were asked to come back, test them for HIV, and visit another ward of the prison.
Bolle is not like your typical prison. Women are allowed to have their children on the grounds and there are facilities for day care. They also farm all the food that is consumed on the grounds. Corn, millet, eggs, etc. To top it off they have a seperate area that women can sew clothes and make soap. This concept was conceived by the warden Madaam Diarra. The concept being that the women don't feel as though they are in prison, but learning tools and rehabilitating themselves to be able to go out in the world and make a living. Madaam Diarra is a tough cookie with a heart of gold. The women seem to admire her. This is as much as I can tell as they speak Bambera, which is then translated to French and then the French is translated to English for me. All in all it was a great time. The people seem to enjoy our company and the message of GAIA once again was well perceived.

Bolle Prison Photos

This is me....

Well here I am. I am a photographer and full time college student working on a project in West Africa located in Bamako, Mali. I am working for the non-profit organization GAIA Vaccine Foundation in Providence, Rhode Island (gaiavaccine.org). My overall project is to document the GAIA VF mission. Please check out their website for the most detailed information. I have been here for a little over one week and becoming adjusted to the culture. I do not speak any French nor do I speak the native tongue, Bambera, that they speak here, but so far it seems to be working. Malians are beautiful. Today it came to me as I was taking a walk. People are the same all over the world, this is true, but how we live is defenitly a world apart. The people of this community are poor to the eye, but rich in their hearts. They live their lives, surviving day by day, meal to meal. Their spirit is genuine, and I feel myself learning a great deal about life just by sitting back and listening. I hope you can learn a bit too from the photos.
As my time here goes along I will update you on the programs that GAIA VF has in place. The images you see already are from this week. Please come back and check out any updates, as I will post on a regular basis. If you have something to say, well then blogg it! Follow the link to view the photos......

A Day at The Balanie

Bal-a-knee: Bambera for a street party,or dance. With music and a purpose. The purpose was to introduce the community of Sikoro to a progam called "Le Main de l'Espoir". "Le Main de l'Espoir" (which translates to "Hand of Hope" in English and "Hêré Bolo" in Bambera) will teach Malians about HIV prevention and treatment. Maddie DiLorenzo, a second year Brown student heads the program for GAIA, and she has recruited two powerful people to stand by her to train peer educators in the community. There is Bay Hudner is a third year Harvard student, and has just recently joined the program. Then there is Ramatouye. Rama is a local Malian and is extremely effective in getting the community together. She speaks Bambera and French, which makes it easier to communicate with more people. Not only that, but she shares her story openly and at that moment you realize that there is more to a person than just the surface. Rama lost her husband and two children to AIDS and she herself is HIV positive. You would think that would get a person down. Not her, she trucks on, passing a message of Hêré Bolo. What is this message of the hands? Espoir: hope (the thumb),Identite: identity (index finger), Transmission: transmission (middle finger), Famille: marriage, fidelity and family (ring finger), and Communaute: the community (both hands together). With this powerful message in the hands of Ramatouye, Maddie and Bay, the word is being spread fast. They have already trained ten nurses and doctors at the Sikoro clinic to act as counselors.
So the Balanie went off with huge success. We danced, we preached the words, and then we danced some more. Take a look at the photos to see all the fun we had spreading a positive word for GAIA VF.

A Day at the Balanie Photos

Dr. Daou

The journey to Pointe G Hopital. One of the largest hospital in Mali. To see one of the biggest doctors in Mali for infectious diseases. The ride was beautiful. Now your wondering: Why no photos of the ride? Well if you were riding in the cars around here, with other cars 2 mm away, and the motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic as they do, you might not stick a camera even close to the window. Trust me the scenery was amazing. I will get some this week or next when I take a day to walk in the moutains. So back to the hospital. There is a university and hospital in one. This is pretty big for Mali.
Let me take a step to the right and talk about the players involved. Dr. Malick Kone. Enough said. A man to admire. He is the Director of GAIA VF in Mali. Malick comes from a family devoted to the medical industry. The man does it all, he works one on one with all the volunteers to accomplish each important mission, and thats just the beginning. Rajiv Kumar is the co-founder and director of Adopt a Doctor. He is a second year medical student at Brown University. They bring doctors from surrounding communities with a small donation to visit clinics in small villages such as Sikoro to treat HIV patients once a week. Check out his link for Adopt a Doctor. Jared Meshekow is the founder of GAIA at Boston University. He is in charge of teahcing doctors a program called Lab Tracker. This is a program which allows for the tracking of HIV-positive patients, medication usage, lab-results, and other relevant medical data. So now, off we go to Dr. Daou's office. He is a fast-paced man, I like that. He has a profile of Martin Luther King, and the same sense of mission as well. As I said before he is the head doctor for infectious diseases in Mali. Talk about a man with a dream. Nothing seems to be impossible for him. So hand in hand, Malick, Rajiv, Jared, and Dr. Daou attack. A slow well planned out attack. Where to bring doctors to treat, what doctors to use, and Jared persistently checking on Lab Tracker to make sure that the patients that are treated are documented. This was a rewarding experience to wittness. Once again another resolution.

Dr. Daou Photos

My Photo Album

Day to day, here I go. Trying to find what makes Mali exist. Its in the people. Look at the eyes, see their resolution. Everyday with the intention to resolve the unresolved. Look at the situation. Never a situation we will be presented with in this lifetime. Put the two together. The situation and the resolution, and you have Mali. Follow this link for weekly updates, sometimes a lot more. The stories and the images can work together.

My Photo Album