Iguana Park / Parque de las Iguanas

This is a video about a neighborhood park/ Iguana reserve in Cali, Colombia that I discovered, run for 22 years as a labor of love by Orlando Machado. 


If the video plays too small on your screen, click the tab under the video to view it directly on youtube.

Reunited with Grupo Aguacero

Today I was finally reunited with Grupo Aguacero after three long years. I am so proud that the group continues to do great work in Aguablanca. We will be continuing to work together even as I begin the next phase of Cameras for Colombia next week in La Florida.

Getting Ready for My Show

Now that my students from Grupo Agua 0 have had their show in Colombia, it is time for me to get ready for my show next month at Third Street Gallery in Old City, Philadelphia. I'm excited to be showing all new work from my last few trips to Colombia. Also, these are black and white traditional silver prints, most of which were printed by renowned master printer Robert Asman. In addition to my work there will be select images from Grupo Agua 0, the first time their work will be displayed outside Colombia. The title of our show is Colombia: Nuestro Pueblo or Colombia: Our Home. It demonstrates the different perspectives my students and I have when we look at the city of Cali, Colombia: a place we all consider home.

Exhibit Time!

Last week the students had their culminating exhibition titled: Miradas Pacíficas (Pacific Views) in conjunction with La Festival de Patronio Alvarez. This festival celebrates the culture and particularly the music of Colombians from the Pacific coast. The photographs dealt with that theme and we took a few trips to places with strong Pacific influences, Los Hormigueros and San Cipriano. Anyway, the exhibition was a huge success. Here are images from the opening. I'll post images from the show directly.


We served Arechón, a drink from the Pacific, at the opening. It reminds me of Puerto Rican Coquito, which is like egg nog but with a serious kick.


Astrid shows off some of her photographs.


There was also an awesome dance performance by a local group.

Below is a photo of me along with Hermán and his wife Claudia representing Foto Ackermann, one of our sponsors. For the 2nd year they donated the printing of the photographs for the exhibition.

ESPERA/Waiting by Lisseth

Esta foto fue tomada en la galeria santa Elena ubicada al sur oriente de cali, ella es una señora que vende gallinas. Me gustaba la expression de la señora, se ve pensativa.

This photo was taken at the Geleria (Market) de Santa Elena located in the southeast of Cali. She is a woman selling chickens. I liked her pensive expression.

A LA OREDEN/At Your Service by Lisseth

Ella esta organizando las frutas que vende, me gusto el color y la composicion. Es un trabajo arduo inicia desde la madrugada.

This woman is organizing the fruit that she sells. It is an arduous job beginning very early in the morning. I liked the color and composition of the photo.

EL CARNICERO/The Butcher by Anna Christina

Me impacto la sangre que tenia el señor en su ropa.

I was impacted by the the blood this man had on his shirt.

LOS MOROCHOS/Workers by Anna Christina

Me gusto la pose del morocho con los platanos en el hombro.

I liked the pose of this worker with the plantains on his shoulder.

BAJO LA LLUVIA/In the Rain by Paola

La foto con las niñas, el laso y la lluvia me parece interesante. Pues aquellas estaban jugando antes de llover. De un momento a otro el cielo se oscurecio y empezo a llover, ellas continuaron.
Me gusta la energia que proyectan porque el clima no las intimido.

This photo with these girls jumping rope in the rain was interesting to me. They were playing before it started raining. Then from one moment to the next the clouds came and it started to rain, but they kept jumping rope. I like the energy they have because they didn't let the weather bother them.

EL VIEJO/Old Man by Karol

Me gusto esta foto por que al pasar por la galeria vi este anciano que apesar de su edad no se le dificulta trabajar vendiendo verdures.

I liked this picture because in the market I saw this old man that has no difficulty selling vegetables despite his age.

MANANTIAL DE VIDA/In the Prime of Their Lives by Oliva

En nuestro barrio hay varios grupos de ancianos, este es uno de ellos.
Se reunen en las mañanas para hacer ejercicio y luego se van algunos de ellos a trabajar en la huerta comunitara que queda ubicada en la parte trasera de la cancha.

In our neighborhood there are various groups of seniors, this is one of them. They meet in the morning to exercise and later go to work in the community garden nearby.

EL CARRETILLERO/ Delivery Man by Oliva

Este hombre tiene el oficio de carretillero, hace viajes de remesas, materiales de construccion, tambien hace trasteos. Cuida de su caballo, porque este es su principal fuente de empleo.
This man works delivering things like construction supplies and also does salvage from what people throw away. He takes care of his horse because it is his livelihood.

COSECHANDO/Harvesting by Oliva

Esta foto fue tomada en la huerta de mi padre.
Lo hice para mostrar, como con constancia y dedicacion, se siembra y luego ; podemos disfrutar de la cosecha, fruto del trabajo.
Estas hermosas flores sembradas por el, hace varios meses, ahora estan en el jarrón de su sala.

This picture was taken in my father's orchard. I took it to demonstrate how through sowing and hard work we can enjoy the harvest, the fruit of our labor. These beautiful flowers were grown by him and are now in a vase in his living room

Oliva's Son's Friend with Cat Wrap

Critique

One of the best things about taking photography classes was the opportunity to get feedback from the instructors and fellow students in the form of a critique. The biggest drawback to using disposable film cameras last year was that there wasn't enough time to give the students feedback because it took forever to get their film developed. Today was our first of many critiques and everybody got a chance to see everyone's work and advice. Check out the following posts of the student work. We are pressed for time today and don't have Internet access where we are so I'm going to post their images for them tonight. They will be responding to comments to their images however so please post!

Gallery Trip

Today we went to go see an interesting photography exhibition in downtown Cali. José Kattán, a Colombian, traveled to France and photographed musicians on the streets of Paris. Louis Nespoulous, a Frenchman, then traveled to Colombia to respond along the same theme. This was a good opportunity to see how two diferent photographers approached the same subject and led to an interesting dialogue within the group.

Meeting with the Group

I finally got to meet with my kids again today. As usual, one of them made us a great meal. This time it was Anna Christina and her daughter Karol making Sancocho de Pescado (fish stew). Everybody got their shiny new digital cameras (Thanks to Latino Partnership Initiative and Congreso de Latinos Unidos) and learned the basics of how to use them. We're set to meet again on Wed. to check out a photo exhibit in downtown Cali and to look at everyone's first picts. Pictured above is the group chowing down and getting their cameras, Lisseth figuring out her camera with co-teacher Carlos, and Andres loving his new camera.

About Agua Blanca

Agua Blanca is often described as Cali's biggest slum. It is home to some 600,000 people, many of whom have been displaced from their rural homes by the violence between Marxist rebels and right wing paramilitary forces and other factors such as natural disasters. Left without alternatives they created their own neighborhoods by building makeshift shacks illegally without land titles. There was an awful period a few years ago where the government battled to forcibly dislodge the residents. Finally, the government began to provide basic services to these people and built schools and hospitals. More than 60% of the population of Agua Blanca live in poverty and earn less than US$ 2 per day. Here are a couple links:

http://www.accessallareas.org/aguablanca/background.html
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/content/view/36/54/

Above photo taken by student Yicel Valencia.