Net proceeds from print sales and other merchandise go to Friends of Bui Society, a registered non-profit that raises awareness of and fundraises for the villages affected by Bui Hydroelectric Dam in Ghana. There are multiple ways you can learn more and help out.
SENA / Consider purchasing a limited edition print from the portrait series 'Sena'. Click Here
BANDA MUSIC / For a minimum donation of $6.99 you can download a copy of 'Banda Music', an album of traditional and contemporary music. Listen to a free preview and purchase either the download or a copy of it on CD. Click Here
MANGO DRIFTWOOD / A short film is also available online. The film follows a number of community members as they prepare for what may be their final harvest festival. Along the way they recount stories of their mango trees which are both important meeting places and living historical documents. Click Here
In Nafaanra, 'sena' asks a question of location equivalent to 'where'.
The Nafaanra speaking villagers of Bui, Ghana have been asking this question for a long time now. The possibility of relocation has existed for generations, yet to this day they have no idea where they will be going. Since the early days of Ghanaian independence a plan for a large hydroelectric project has been in the works. They have been promised little in terms of compensation.
Bui Dam will destroy the homes of over 2500 people. Centuries of life, a richly storied environment, and present livelihoods will be flooded over. Government officials have warned the Bui villagers that their new lands will not be near the river, an important resource and part of their economic and spiritual landscape for centuries. Beyond that, the people of Bui village have little idea where they will go when the water rises.
One may ask ‘where’ of the photographs themselves. The subjects stand in between generations shared with the river and the unknown. The space they inhabit exists as both an affirmation of the human on the landscape and a way of erasing them from it.
I purposely situated my subjects in the very river that will flood their homes. In the photos the only discernible remnant of the river exists as a reflection of the human, a memory. One is unsure whether the people are emerging from the water or if they are succumbing to it. It can go either way. This isn't an outright moral condemnation of the effects of hydroelectric dams, but there is a great chance the viewers will walk away feeling a certain sympathy towards these people. It is a fundamental humanistic tendency I am trying to provoke. These aren't just refugees, displaced, in that untouchable, tainted way. These are not photographs of an 'Impoverished Africa'. These are human beings. Like you they share vision.
All proceeds after costs and gallery commissions go back to the affected communities.