And now for something to read. Manik Katyal’s Emaho Magazine convinced me to give lengthy answers to a few questions they had in the interview linked HERE.
And here are the photographs which accompany the interview.
If you are into interviews and want to check if I am consistent: HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE are a few more…
I mean the discoveries I made and kinda’ liked during the three days I was in Siem Reap, the city of cultural mass-tourism and grinning crocs, for the Angkor Photo festival which goes on for a couple more days…
During three projections I saw:
Rasel Chowdhury (Bangladesh)- Life on Water: quiet, washed-out (what else?) colour photographs of the insidious rising of water levels in rural Bangladesh.
Sayed Asif Mahmud (Bangladesh)- Tobacco Tales: strong and freewheeling Moriyama-ish black and white photographs on the tobacco industry in Bangladesh.
(What is it with Bangladesh photographers anyhow? Is there a good one behind every corner?)
Natela Grigalashvili (Georgia)- A Georgian Village: Intimacy as I like it, unpretentious and beautifully composed black and white images of rural Georgia, a country dear to my heart.
Exhibition:
Yusuf Cevincli (Turkey)- Post: The catalog says ‘he does not look at; he experiences’. Which is OK if you are visually gifted. He seems to be.
Informally:
Sheila Zhao (China)- Work in Progress: she seems to constantly be on holiday and comes back with dreamlike photographs.
If you thought Yorm Bopha’s case would be over you’d better think twice. The land rights activist and Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience who was jailed on what human rights observers say were trumped up charges to punish her for her militantism, appeared in front of the Supreme Court this morning for her last appeal. The verdict fell just before noon: free on bail and the case is sent back to the Court of Appeal for further investigation.
Several hundred of supporters and monks gathered in front of the courthouse during the appeal trial.
More on Boeung Kak lake HERE and HERE
This is a follow-up post on the ‘Quest for Land‘ story which is available as an iApp on iTunes and which reports on land issues in Cambodia since the year 2000 with texts by Robert Carmichael and over 700 photographs.
First the (unauthorised) commemoration of the 347 young souls who were crushed to death during a stampede on the Koh Pich bridge at the 2010 Water Festival (see part of the story HERE). It was organised by the opposition CNRP, one day ahead of the official (and obviously authorised) commemoration which will be held by the ruling CPP on the 22nd.
Later that same evening, a few human rights organisations, together with a few communities and restless monks, held an unauthorised vigil at the Olympic Stadium, to celebrate the ‘International Day to End Impunity’, near the place where Khem Sambo, a journalist with the Moneasake Khmer, was killed in July 2008. Nine journalists have been killed in Cambodia since 1992. It is not Syria of course, but still… It is nine too many. Especially because no one was ever really brought before a courtroom for the killings.
Yes… All with the Sony RX1…
The strike by the workers from the SL Garment factory is in its 4th month. They walked the streets several times, they are without income, they sit for hours at the gates of their factory, they put up a blockade on the road, they were dispersed by the riot police, they were shot at with slingshots and with live ammunition, but they still stand. Even the mediation by the Prime Minister’s cabinet has not succeeded in totally ironing out the differences between the workers and their direction.
It is all about obtaining a fair pay for making what you pay for, for the fashionable stuff you in the West are wearing…
More on the SL Garment factory strike HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
All photographs taken with the Sony RX1…
The final appeal for Yorm Bopha’s case at the Supreme Court is not due until the 22nd, but the Boeung Kak lake community was out in front of the court building to ask for the release of their fellow land rights activist who was sentenced to two years of prison on what human rights observers say are trumped up charges.
More on Boeung Kak lake HERE and HERE
This is a follow-up post on the ‘Quest for Land‘ story which is available as an iApp on iTunes and which reports on land issues in Cambodia since the year 2000 with texts by Robert Carmichael and over 700 photographs.
All these photographs were taken with the Sony RX1.
For the third consecutive year the Water Festival in Phnom Penh was cancelled. The first two times for a good reason. Not so sure about the third reason though…
Here is one photograph of what I believe was the first Water Festival after the war. The others are from tonight’s atmosphere near the riverside pagoda…
More about 1991 HERE…
All photographs except the first one taken with the Sony RX1. Getting to like that camera…
The workers from SL Garment factory, specialised in various wet and dry processes for denim jeans for Levi’s, Wrangler, Zara, Union Bay, J. Crew, Nautica and other famous Western brands are still on strike in front of the factory gates, blocking the road with a tent. Day before yesterday, with their social conflict in its 4th month, they marched to Hun Sen’s residence to request better salaries and a string of other requests, but were stopped by riot police which used tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the stone throwing crowd. One bystander was killed and several others were injured by bullets.
The police denies it shot at the crowd, saying that people got hurt by ‘anonymous bullets’. For sure and until further notice the police doesn’t give names to its bullets (yet). But just as certainly there are names for those policemen who could, and should, be identified. Shouldn’t be too difficult a task as there is quite some footage shot by reporters and human rights observers.
One example at THIS LINK.
More on the SL Garment factory strike HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
