Sahara Chronicle

"The immense desert territory of the Tuareg was split in five by the colonial empires, covering substantial areas of Algeria, Libya, Mali, Niger and Chad. Tuareg existence is transnational by definition. They worked out a system of information, itineraries and topographic literacy to manage the most valuable resource in these latitudes: mobility. Revitalizing tribal bonds across borders, the nomads quickly organized the transport of migrants into an efficient network. On the Atlantic coast, new migration systems are emerging as the Straight of Gibraltar is sealed off. Here different networks intertwine and reorganize themselves as border regimes change."

- "Sahara Chronicle" is a collection of videos on mobility and the politics of containment in the Sahara. The multimedia exhibit is part of the geography of transterritories exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Traveling is Fun...

Traveling is fun because you might happen to see yourself

in places and things you least expect.

"The Comfort of Ducky" by J Asher Lynch from CA, $1,500

The Work of Art

I am no kind of photographer.  The act of taking pictures makes me uncomfortable, and I am awkward when having my picture taken.  But I also get very taken by conversations and debates about photographs and photography and (in particular) photographers, (e.g. the boundaries and overlap between pictures vs. art vs. documentation) in part because I don't have the sentiments, convictions and investments into the practice that many, many people do.  And I always take mental note when the rare urge emerges for me to reach for my camera (I finally transitioned from film to digital 2 months ago) to capture an image or a moment.

This urge struck while visiting the Landmine Museum in Siem Reap, which is already a riveting place (to say the least) given that Cambodia is the most land-mined country in the world, on top of the fact that it is also the most bombed country in the world (good old US of A secretly dropping over 250 million tons of bombs on Cambodia between 1969 and 1975). When I turned a corner and saw this painting hanging, unframed and unsigned, I was arrested.  I stood for a while staring at him staring off, and then went for my camera.  I don't know exactly what it is about this painting that made me want to have an image of it; the ubiquitous krama, the sense of resistance, the brown skin, the contours and shading of his face, the Khmer features so similar to the people that I was now surrounded by, the fact that the art I had seen until this point memorialized the Angkor Wat more than highlighted Cambodian people, because it was just so unexpected in that moment, in that place...  In any case, I found that I wanted him, and maybe part of that was so I could share him with you.