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- I loan because:
- it's good to chip in, change a life, gamble on goodness, get the ball rolling…
After all, it IS the only safe bet and while twenty five clams doesn't mean much to some, to others it can literally mean everything.
My avatar is borrowed from the 20th Century American master photographer, W. Eugene Smith and his heirs who now hold the copyright.
It's the closing image from a most famous book representing the work of numerous photographers, from the landmark exhibition, 'Family of Man', produced not long after WWII. And this photograph, titled 'The Walk to Paradise Garden' (1946), depicting Mr. Smith's own precious children, seemed to me to be an ideal image to include here. My heartfelt thanks goes to Gene Smith, and to all who keep his spirit and his insight alive.
I believe it can be argued that all of us owe a huge debt to all those involved in the 'Family of Man' because that exhibition, and the publication of those images, marks a special moment when, with renewed vigor once again, we strove to look willfully beyond ourselves, with greater compassion, towards a greater world.
The quote associated with the photograph, the final thought closing the book, from St.-John Perse, reads,
'A world to be born under your footsteps…'
A little more detail on this inspiring photograph; an excerpt taken from a lecture titled
LOVE, JUSTICE, SEX AND MONEY, Part II - being the keynote address in Ontario, by Terry Boyd and Joseph Dunlop-Addley, at the Kingston Men's Conference of October, 1995.
"… Eugene Smith was an American photographer, and a true mentor. He photographed the deplorable "living" conditions of Japanese POW's in American WWII concentration camps and thereby changed those conditions; he was the first American photojournalist to do a photo story foregrounding and celebrating the bravery of a black person, a nurse, and thereby challenge racism; he photographed the effects of mercury poisoning on the people in a poor fishing village in Minamata, Japan. Smith was a keen observer of the human condition - he called himself a "compassionate cynic."
Smith suffered serious war injuries when he was documenting WWII and thought that he might never make another photograph. Fortunately for us, he did. Here is what he said about the making of that photograph:
"Finally, I decided to try, but it was very difficult. My face was still pouring pus and it was draining into the camera and my nerves were… I was not only about to go through the ceiling but through the sky. I decided to try, anyway. I got the whole family out of the house, except my two children. Then, I took them for a walk. I wanted it to be a good picture, to contradict and contrast with my war pictures, the last photographs that I had taken. So I followed the children, and I saw them stepping into this space as they went along the path. I stopped and clumsily tried to focus, and as they stepped into the space, I made the photograph. I felt that it was fairly good.
[I entitled the photograph] 'The Walk to Paradise Garden.' Most people think it has a religious connotation, but it's as much a tribute to music as anything. There is an opera by Delius called A Village Romeo and Juliet, and one piece of the music is called 'The Walk to Paradise Garden.' I've left it with an ambiguous title so that anyone can take from it what they wish. But it's basically my tribute to music and to humanity, because I think it shows hope."…"
If you'd like to hear the music, this arrangement - www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVeaAhYluOc - by Beecham, of Frederick Delius' "Walk to the Paradise Garden," performed by the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir John Barbirolli, is certainly well worth a listen.
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Portfolio Distribution
- By Gender
- By Country
- By Sector
- By Partner
Gender
| Gender | % |
|---|---|
| Female | 66.89% |
| Male | 33.11% |
Country
| Country | % |
|---|---|
| Peru | 12.86% |
| Cambodia | 8.28% |
| Nicaragua | 7.76% |
| Uganda | 5.73% |
| Kenya | 5.21% |
| Philippines | 4.95% |
| Sierra Leone | 4.42% |
| Bolivia | 4.37% |
| Lebanon | 3.33% |
| Nigeria | 2.86% |
| Viet Nam | 2.71% |
| Palestine | 2.50% |
| Mexico | 2.39% |
| Indonesia | 2.39% |
| Tajikistan | 1.93% |
| Ecuador | 1.93% |
| South Sudan | 1.77% |
| Togo | 1.46% |
| Senegal | 1.41% |
| Nepal | 1.35% |
| Mongolia | 1.35% |
| Pakistan | 1.25% |
| Guatemala | 1.25% |
| Paraguay | 1.20% |
| Liberia | 1.15% |
| Azerbaijan | 1.09% |
| Tanzania | 1.09% |
| El Salvador | 0.99% |
| Jordan | 0.94% |
| Colombia | 0.94% |
| Ghana | 0.88% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 0.83% |
| Chile | 0.73% |
| Mozambique | 0.68% |
| Armenia | 0.62% |
| The Democratic Republic Of The Congo | 0.62% |
| Dominican Republic | 0.57% |
| Afghanistan | 0.52% |
| Mali | 0.47% |
| Benin | 0.47% |
| Honduras | 0.36% |
| Costa Rica | 0.36% |
| Rwanda | 0.36% |
| Samoa | 0.26% |
| United States | 0.21% |
| Burkina Faso | 0.16% |
| Ukraine | 0.16% |
| Sri Lanka | 0.16% |
| Zimbabwe | 0.16% |
| Cameroon | 0.10% |
| Iraq | 0.10% |
| Haiti | 0.10% |
| Zambia | 0.05% |
| South Africa | 0.05% |
| Georgia | 0.05% |
| Congo | 0.05% |
| Burundi | 0.05% |
Sector
| Sector | % |
|---|---|
| Food | 17.80% |
| Retail | 16.71% |
| Education | 11.14% |
| Agriculture | 10.72% |
| Health | 10.20% |
| Services | 6.66% |
| Housing | 6.45% |
| Arts | 5.83% |
| Clothing | 4.53% |
| Personal Use | 4.01% |
| Construction | 2.03% |
| Transportation | 1.93% |
| Entertainment | 1.25% |
| Manufacturing | 0.42% |
| Wholesale | 0.31% |
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