To Serve A Nation update

To Serve a Nation photofilm is on a bit of a tour in Laos at the moment thanks to Tessa Bunney. She went back to Phonsavan to share the film with the women we worked with and other members of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and will be giving a talk in Vientiane on 17th September. 

It's such a brilliant feeling to show photofilms to the people who have given so much to make these stories possible and I'm really happy Tessa was able to go to do this - I wish I could have been there too!

The women of UCT6

After leaving Lao last November I faced a new set of challenges when putting together the material Tessa and I had recorded. It was the first time I had worked in a language other than my own and this was a steep learning curve. But after many weeks of wrestling with story lines, final cut pro, translations and different time zones the film was finally finished. 
To Serve A Nation explores the lives of UCT6, an all female UXO clearance team working for The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) in Lao PDR, the most bombed country, per capita, in the world. The full article with Tessa Bunney's images and text, including extracts from my interviews was published in the Financial Times Weekend magazine. You can see a copy of the article here and the film online on the Financial Times website here.
It was a pleasure to work with someone as established as Tessa and to be play a small part in wider work in Lao. It was also a proud moment for me to see our work and the stories of the women published in a context where so many people could access it. 

 
To Serva A Nation from rebecca harley on Vimeo.

The Hinterlands final day

Its been a very busy and engaging week and has passed very quickly. We've been extremely lucky with the weather and it's been so nice to sit out and eat dinner outside every evening with everyone. It makes all the hard work in the run up to the week seem worthwhile. 

We've been lucky enough to have Pascal Wyse, multimedia producer for the Guardian down from London to talk about his work with soundscapes and images and last night we had one of last year's participants Alice Carfrae back to talk about her work Tin Girls. There was silence in the room while she talked about the women she met who were survivors of trafficking. She showed the multimedia work she produced after last year's workshop which included performance, theatre, images and sound. The group at The Hinterlands raised several hundred pounds to help her put on an exhibition of her work and duckrabbit matched the money raised, making a total of around £900.00.  

We also heard from John MacPherson speaking about the land, the sea, woodland and belief. He showed some beautiful work and gave everyone even more to think about. It's always a treat to have speakers along for the week and although it's hard for everyone to take a break and drag themselves away from their laptops and audio editing, it provides a breathing space for inspiration and re-energises the group.

Last year was the first workshop and it's been tempting to compare the two years, but there really is no comparison. As with all groups when you bring people together and build a community over a week  all sorts of energy flies around and I've found this year every bit as enjoyable as last. It will seem very strange when everyone packs their things and leaves the site. Tonight though is the final night where the local community gather together to watch the films the teams produce. There is a real sense of fulfilment from the participants, the crowd and the people who've taken time to share their stories and it will be a very special event.

Free place for The Hinterlands photofilm workshop with duckrabbit

Not long now until this year's Hinterlands photofilm workshop with duckrabbit and we are pleased to announce a scholarship place for the 5 day residential training week in Devon. The lucky recipient will attend the workshop, stay on site at the yurts and be fed and watered for free.

We want to help out someone who'd like to come, but can't quite scrape together the beans in this tough economic climate so head to www.thehinterlands.co.uk and click on the workshop button to read more. The closing date is Wednesday 16th May 2012 at 09.00 hrs.


You may end up feeling a bit like Tessa Bunney :-)

I recently met Brenda Ann Kenneally and listened to her talk on the final night of Fotopub in Slovenia. Her output of work over the last seven years with The Raw File and Upstate Girls is epic and the comprehensive way in which she works across many mediums reflects her deep commitment to telling the stories of the women she documents. The multimedia pieces she has produced provide an entry in to a larger and much more complex story. Her work will stay with me for a long time.

“As a journalist and activist I have dedicated my life to exploring the how and why of class inequity in America, I am concerned with the internalized social messages that will live on for generations after our economic and social policies catch up with the reality of living on the bottom rung of America’s upwardly mobile society. My project explores the way that money is but a symptom of self worth and a means by which humans separate from each other. Poverty is an emotional rather than physical state with layers of marginalization to cement those who live under them into their place. The economic crisis as it is called has done some to take the moral sting out of being poor, though the conversation remains centered on economic rather than social stimulus relief. Thus indicating that it is those that are recently without money rather than Americans whose ongoing struggles left them un-phased by the headlines.

My project has followed seven women for five years as their escape routes out of generational poverty have lead to further entrapments. I am looking to compile a gererational history of the emotional spiral of those resigned to the lower class in The United States.”

As part of her lecture she showed a short piece of multimedia with audio from Heather (one of the women in Upstate Girls), and a collection of family photographs, text and other material pasted into the pages of a book. Heather is recorded talking through the scrapbook she has made and tells the story of her life so far. I found the piece very moving and Brenda has kindly allowed me to share it here.

Brenda describes the process of making the scrapbooks as a way for the women to create “their own visual record via gathering photographs and ephemera and writing passages to bear witness to their own past and validate the culture that has been created by our contemporary social policies”

Fotopub 2011 in Slovenia

Along with Mike Lusmore I'll be a mentor at this year's Fotopub in Slovenia for the multimedia workshop. I'm extremely excited to be asked and really looking forward to the experience . It looks set to be a great festival with some very interesting workshop leaders including Brenda Anne Kenneally, Ed Ou, Espen Ramussessen and Uros Abram. Hope to see some of you there - that includes you Marcia Chandra, apparently there's a nice river swim to be had. Thanks duckrabbit for the recommendation :-).