… and I will be writing and collaborating like never before.

Some late night thoughts to new friends in Almería. Thanks.

San Isidro de Níjar, April 2010.

Andalusia, April 2010.

Sebastian Scheiner / Associated Press

From the New York Times’ Lens blog on June 2, 2010, this image by Sebastian Scheiner. Caption reads:

“Israeli youths released doves and balloons during a rally in support of the military after a deadly raid by Israel’s navy on an aid flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip.”

On June 4, 2010, an article in The Guardian has the following image by by Vadim Ghirda:

Vadim Ghirda/AP

followed by the news that independent autopsy reports many of the dead aboard the aid flotilla were shot in the head at close range.

“Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range.

Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.

The results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.

The findings emerged as more survivors gave their accounts of the raids. Ismail Patel, the chairman of Leicester-based pro-Palestinian group Friends of al-Aqsa, who returned to Britain today, told how he witnessed some of the fatal shootings and claimed that Israel had operated a “shoot to kill policy”.

He calculated that during the bloodiest part of the assault, Israeli commandos shot one person every minute. One man was fatally shot in the back of the head just two feet in front him and another was shot once between the eyes. He added that as well as the fatally wounded, 48 others were suffering from gunshot wounds and six activists remained missing, suggesting the death toll may increase.

The new information about the manner and intensity of the killings undermines Israel’s insistence that its soldiers opened fire only in self defence and in response to attacks by the activists.

“Given the very disturbing evidence which contradicts the line from the Israeli media and suggests that Israelis have been very selective in the way they have addressed this, there is now an overwhelming need for an international inquiry,” said Andrew Slaughter MP, a member of the all party group on Britain and Palestine.

Israel said tonight the number of bullets found in the bodies did not alter the fact that the soldiers were acting in self defence. “The only situation when a soldier shot was when it was a clearly a life-threatening situation,” said a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London. “Pulling the trigger quickly can result in a few bullets being in the same body, but does not change the fact they were in a life-threatening situation.”

Protesters from across the country will tomorrow march from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy to call for Israel to be held to account for its actions.

Earlier this week, William Hague, the foreign secretary, said the government would call for an inquiry under international auspices if Israel refuses to establish an independent inquiry, including an international presence.”

Photo by dad.

Just to keep things flowing a bit, a small announcement: I graduated from art school a couple days ago with the opening of the exhibition Afgang 10 at the Aarhus Art Building, shown above. The work on show consists of the last two months’ material from Spain and around. It’s not much, at most a preliminary storyboard intending to connect themes and stories, but if you’re in town (or country), feel free to drop by for some cultural enrichment before June 13. There are five other graduating artists on the show, and it’s very odd altogether, but I think in a good way.

Thanks to family and friends who came for the opening from near and far away – it meant a lot to me. That’s my dear brother right there in the front. Can you tell?

José Manuel, a greenhouse farmer in San Agustín, Almería.

Warehouse workers in the alhóndigas, greenhouse farmers’ marketplace.

Voces de Cambio participants, 2009 (the whole bunch this time)

It should be pretty obvious from my last post that I’ve been away from blogging for a good while, and long overdue that I write. I’m particularly sorry to have neglected to write about Voces de Cambio while the fourth session was still going on, partly because it’s something that I’ve put a lot of time and good effort into during the past months, but mostly because it’s a great organization that deserves much, much more credit and attention. If you want to learn more about Voces, don’t hesitate to write me (or them), visit their website, and if you’d like to support the program, it’s quite easy to make a donation to Voces de Cambio from there. Recently we put them on Facebook and Twitter as well, just in case .. following them on Twitter won’t flood your inbox right away, but we might have participants twittering about their experiences in future sessions. Vamos a ver ..

Above are all of the girls from this year’s session, the fourth so far. Pictured from above, left side are: Sara, Evelyn, Ana, Angie, Laura, Janeth, Felisa, and Nancy. Below: Marta, Darinca, Mariela, and Gladys. A click on the image will open the individual portraits I took of the girls.

Voces de Cambio participants, 2009 (Fourth Session)

Since early July I’ve been working with Voces de Cambio, a small non-profit in Xela run by some great people, and only my general lack of time to blog has kept it out of here; it deserves much more honorable mention than I’ve been able to give it. Voces de Cambio is an after-school program for teenage girls which provide free classes in photography and writing, as well as conversations centered around women’s rights, the role of women in Guatemala, machismo and other issues of gender inequity, and which promotes participation, self-confidence and creative growth. I originally took over from Lucas when he left Guatemala, and now that the fourth session is over, I’ve also left Guatemala. However, it’s an amazing program really, and as it’s close to our hearts we’re both continuing to work with Voces from afar. During the fourth session I’ve been running the photography bit of the program, with the indispensable help of Brenda, a graduate of the program’s first session who now works as an assistant in facilitating the new sessions. With only two days left of the exhibition at Alianza Francesa in Xela, a mention is all but overdue, but I’ll put up my images from the opening as soon as I get myself sorted here. In the meanwhile, all of the final images are now up at our Flickr gallery.

As you can see there’s some great work up there. I’ve really enjoyed working with and getting to know the participants, but also the quality of so many of the photographs has totally humbled me. I should add that most of the girls have never photographed at all before, and they’ve received a very minimum of tutoring – mostly a camera crash course and an idea to go with it. While there’s room for some personal favorites among them, more than a few of the girls have produced amazing work, and it’s been a pleasure as well as an honour to have worked with them. If you happen to be in Xela before Sep. 8th, the exhibition is still on, so I’d say get your butt down to Alianza Francesa.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Santo Domingo, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. 2009. Indians.

Santo Domingo, Guatemala, 2009.

A photo from March 2009, during a demonstration against public energy privatization in Flores, Petén region, Guatemala.

Floor after community assembly. Santo Domingo, northern Huehuetenango, Guatemala. May 21, 2009.

To illustrate earlier posts, the Marlin mine in San Miguel Ixtahuacán seen from a distance. San Marcos, Guatemala, 2009. Go ahead and click it.

Here are the photos from Caserio Canicham, the very small community I visited during their community referendum on mining, which I wrote about in the previous post. A click on an image starts a view of the entire set in full size (18 pictures).

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Click on an image to view the whole series in a large size.

San Rafael la Independencia, Guatemala, 2009. During a local community referendum against chemical mineral mining, in which the people of Canicham, a small rural community in northern Huehuetenango, voted unanimously against mining in Guatemala. Before being signed, the community statement was read to the community members.

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Click on an image to view the whole series in a large size.

San Rafael la Independencia, Guatemala, 2009. During a local community referendum against chemical mineral mining, kids play with found stuff.

Larry Towell

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This is a train of thought
a long line of thinking that goes back to the way free people thought before jails were invented.
No matter how tired they were, they never stopped thinking the same thought:
What if someone took them away? Took the thoughts away?

No matter how tired I get, I’m never too tired to forget the dead friends I still have
You see that village on the hill that isn’t there? It used to be mine.
You see that house, buried like a hibernating frog in the sand?
That was my house.
I can prove it. I still have the key.

I wish I was still alive so I could confirm once and for all that I existed,
instead of being this memory that no one can prove, nor disprove.

Perhaps it is enough then to belong to the memory.
Perhaps you only see the ground above the frog,
the ground is enough,
the ground is a memory.

This is a train of thought,
a long line of thinking that goes back to the time before there were jails.
To a time we were so small we did not even exist.

I wish I was still alive,
instead of being where I am.
Imagine that -
being where i’m not.

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Words by Larry Towell, from his ‘Train of Thought‘ – thanks to Magnum in Motion you can see this story there; Larry Towell’s words, sound recordings and photographs documenting the aftermath of an assault on a Jenin refugee camp in 2002 by the Israeli Defense Forces. Larry Towell is a remarkable photographer with an rare instinct, and sensibility. His talent for storytelling is a truly inspirational for me, whether documenting quiet domestic, rural life, or critical social issues abroad. For his photos and essays, here is his portfolio at Magnum – subtle, poetic work all way through. (Any errors in the text above are mine). Alright,

back to work..