Sep

Crossing Cultures To Tell A Story of Turmoil

by Meredith Mullins on September 9, 2019

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Environmental disaster in Ogoniland, Nigeria (2013)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

The World Is Screaming

The power of an image can be far reaching. A story can be told—or a message delivered— in even a single photograph.

And when a space is filled with images that have a common theme, the story becomes exponentially compelling.

This is the impact of photographer Philippe Chancel’s series “Datazone”—photographs made in remote and diverse corners of the world to reveal realities that we don’t ordinarily see. The interwoven essence becomes increasingly clear.

Damaged ship and house after earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, Japan, part of the Datazone exhibit at the Rencontres d'Arles, using Chancel photographs and crossing cultures to deliver a message via documentary photography. (Image © Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and the Melanie Rio Fluency Gallery.)

The aftermath of natural disasters
Tohoku, Japan (2011)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

This series of images delivers the disturbing message that our planet and its inhabitants are in trouble.

Chancel is adept at crossing cultures to reveal the signs and symptoms of what Datazone Curator Michel Poivert calls a world in decline. “The world is screaming,” Poivert says. And we have to take notice.

Philippe Chancel’s Datazone at the Rencontres d’Arles
© Meredith Mullins

“Datazone” at the Rencontres d’Arles

The Datazone exhibit was one of the highlights of the 2019 Rencontres d’Arles photography festival. The images filled the cathedral-like Église des Frères Prêcheurs. The 16^th century gothic space lent a symbolic importance to the visual storytelling.

Directional lines on the floor led to each of the countries represented, reminding us that the world’s problems are not isolated to a few “hot zones.” We are surrounded by turmoil.

Chancel includes 14 countries in the Datazone exhibit.
© Meredith Mullins

Chancel’s sensitive and thoughtful explorations from the past 15 years show us brutal dictatorships, environmental tragedies, the effects of climate change, war, natural disasters, and the dehumanizing effects of modernization.

French photographer Philippe Chancel
© Meredith Mullins

The Datazone exhibit includes 14 different sites, from Fukushima to Haiti, from Marseilles to Nigeria, from North Korea to Afghanistan, from Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates, from the West Bank in Israel to the Greece/Macedonia border. From Kazakhstan to South Africa. From the U.S. (Flint, Michigan) to India (Mumbai).

Marikana, South Africa (2012)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

The places were chosen by Chancel as areas in peril. They became part of his journey perhaps because of a specific disaster or social or political event. But they were often selected because the issues were off the main media’s radar or were insidious growths, moving slowly toward danger.

Dehumanizing modernization
Marseille, France (2017/2018)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

Moments of Truth

Once on site, Chancel chooses his photographic moments carefully. No clichés. No staging. No special effects. Just reality, which is sometimes subtle and sometimes dramatically direct. He shows us hidden truths.

In many scenes, Chancel shows us the future conjoined to the past. Skyscrapers mixed with barren desert land. Opulence and poverty in close proximity. High speed roads alongside well-trodden paths. Natural beauty overtaken by industrial disaster.

The past and future together
Abu Dhabi (2007)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

Chancel shows us not just the effects of war, but the change in life as a result of years of war. We are shown the compounds, surrounded by barbed wire, built to protect the rich warlords from attack . . . and the mercenaries who guard the concrete structures with Kalashnikovs.

Guarded compound in Kabul, Afghanistan (2012)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

He shows us the aftermath of natural disasters, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor tragedy of the Tohoku region of Japan.

The photographs are not the immediate headline-grabbing scenes, but images that tell of the long struggles and hardships that follow such tragedies for years.

The people of Haiti continue their life after the devastating 2010 earthquake
(Port au Prince, Haiti, 2011).
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

He unveils the theater of a dictatorship that requires blind loyalty and enthusiastic support, as well as the growing international tendency to create border barricades to prevent the influx of refugees.

Theater or truth?
North Korea. Pyongyang (2013)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

In several series, he shows us how the pristine beauty of many places on earth is in jeopardy and how once thriving ecosystems have been destroyed.

We see the oil seeping into the life of the people of the Niger Delta from fractured pipelines, threatening the very existence of the farmers and fishermen of the area.

Oil-scarred land of the Niger Delta
Ogoniland, Nigeria (2013)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

And we sense the melting ice of Antarctica, once described by explorer Charcot as “a vast, magnificent city made from the purest marble”—a dream that he would like to keep dreaming. That collection of “towering amphitheaters and temples built by divine architects” is melting. Yes. Climate change is very real.

Melting majesty
Charcot Point, Antarctica (2017)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

Although the Datazone exhibit has ended, additional exhibits of the Rencontres d’Arles can be viewed until September 22. The Datazone work will next be shown at Paris Photo 2019 in the Grand Palais of Paris from November 7–10 at the Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency and can also be seen on Philippe Chancel’s website.

Contrasting realities
Abu Dhabi (2007/2011)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

Oh I See: A Wake-Up Call to the Planet

When Chancel’s images are taken as a whole collective—crossing cultures on so many continents—the future seems all too clear. This is a wake-up call to the world. The only question that remains is what shall we do . . .

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 6 Comments

Afghanistan/Africa/Asia/Crossing Cultures/Greece/Haiti/India/South Africa/USA

Dec

Meaningful Greetings for the Holiday Season

by Janine Boylan on December 9, 2013

Rwandan orphans overcoming obstacles through their fair-paying jobs at Cards from Africa. (Image © Cards from Africa)

Youth in Rwanda display their hand-crafted cards.
Image courtesy of Cards from Africa, a division of Good Paper

Crafting Cards and Overcoming Obstacles

When we choose our family’s annual holiday greeting cards, we try to find something that shows a bit of our personality and what is important to us as a family. After all, this is often the only letter some friends receive from me all year long!

But what if our cards could help others at the same time?

I discovered three card lines that do that. These handmade greetings are transforming the lives of people in Haiti, the Philippines, and Rwanda.

Hope for Haiti

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti turned many lives upside down. People lost their homes and livelihoods in a matter of moments.

Six months after the quake, a group of woman met in the government camp where they were living. They decided to do something to work their way out of the crowded, unprotected tents they were living in.

Ranging in age from 18 to 82, the women chose to make and sell greeting cards. They named their group OFEDA—Organisation des Femmes Dévouées en Action (Organization of Dedicated Women in Action).

OFEDA women in Haiti overcoming obstacles through work on their handmade cards. (Image © Paula Allen)

OFEDA women at work in their camp
Image by Paula Allen

handmade card from OFEDA, illustrating women from Haiti overcoming obstacles. (Image © OFEDA)

A hand-stitched holiday card from OFEDA
Image courtesy of OFEDA

Eventually other women joined their group.

They drew pictures, cut and glued paper, and stitched designs to create the cards. They worked on rickety tables, through blistering heat or pouring rain.

Then, in 2012, tropical storm Isaac ripped through their camp.

Somehow they managed to keep their card-making supplies safe. Just days after the storm, they overcame this latest obstacle and were back at work.

Now, four years later, the fairy tale ending hasn’t happened yet. The woman are still in the tent camp.

But some things have changed. The group has expanded to 200 members. A group of U.S. soap makers has taught the OFEDA women how to make handmade soap to sell.

The women also added hand-sewn bags and knit hats to their product line. And the card makers continue with their cards.

With the profits from their work, the women have been able to buy needed personal supplies. Currently their supplies are provided by donation, but as the sales increase, the women will be able to fully run their own business.

See their work at OFEDA.com.

Hope for the Philippines

Women in the Philippines overcoming obstacles through work on handmade cards. (Image © Sanctuary Spring/Good Paper)

Image courtesy of Sanctuary Spring,
a division of Good Paper

The women of Sanctuary Spring make sweet, humorous cards. But their pasts were not sweet or humorous.

Due to poverty, trickery, or desperation, these women turned to prostitution for income.

They faced humiliation daily. But one by one, they found their way from this frightening life on the street to a safe and secure job with an income that allows them to provide food and education for their families.

The women’s lives have changed dramatically. Some have learned to be more patient as they cut and piece together the cheerful cards; others have learned the art of sewing for the first time. They feel safe in a community of friends who understand and support them. Some women are making plans to create their own businesses.

One card maker, Jasmine, explains, “Above all, I am learning hope and transformation from the darkness of my past. I have seen the value of women and my thinking has changed about how a woman should speak, think, and live.”

View the cards on the Good Paper site.

Through Sanctuary Spring, women in the Philippines are overcoming obstacles with jobs making handmade cards like this. (Image © Sanctuary Spring/Good Paper)

Image courtesy of Sanctuary Spring, a division of Good Paper

Hope for Rwanda

The horrific genocide in Rwanda during the 1990s made international headlines. While the country has made tremendous progress since that time, its young people are still recovering.

Many youth lost their parents to either the killing or to disease. That meant that these school-aged kids instantly had to act as responsible adults and care for their multiple siblings.

Through Cards from Africa, youth in Rwanda are overcoming obstacles with jobs making cards like this. (Image © Cards from Africa/Good Paper)

Image courtesy of Cards from Africa,
a division of Good Paper

Cards from Africa has given these young people, aged 18–25, an opportunity to work in a safe and clean environment and earn more than five times what they might earn elsewhere.

These wages support the families, and, perhaps just as importantly, allow the younger siblings to stay in school.

In addition, the cards are made from office waste. With no official recycling in Rwanda, waste paper is normally burned instead of reused. So, these cards lengthen the life cycle of the paper and keep the air a little cleaner.

Visit the Good Paper site to see the cards.

Youth overcoming obstacles and making cards in Rwanda. (Image © Cards from Africa/Good Paper)

Making each card with joy.
Image courtesy Cards from Africa, a division of Good Paper

Oh, I see so many great choices for meaningful seasonal greetings!

Now how do I choose?

Sanctuary Spring and Cards from Africa are two product lines from Good Paper. Check out their site to see other hand-crafted fair trade items.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Janine Boylan Comments

Haiti/Philippines/Rwanda/The World's Entrepreneurs

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