http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2182471/vii-photo-adds-photographers-mentor-programme

https://twitter.com/#!/lauraeltantawy

Moises Saman is there too, reporting and updating daily on Magnum:

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.StoryDetail_VPage&pid=2K7O3RKB67E9

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nCyQvAlEEM&w=560&h=315

Laura still needs our help with funding her project fully, over there on emphas.is:

http://www.emphas.is/web/guest/discoverprojects?projectID=324

safe travels…and may the spirits of vision be with you…ALL of YOU!

thanks for reminding me which one i’d contributed too, couldn’t remember, done so many i can’t remember who’ve i’ve donated too, but cool….so happy for you….and by the way, have you read Said’s “Orientalism”??….if not, put it in your rucksack for your trip…he’s has much to say about identity too, and having lived most of your life away from Egypt, he’d be an invaluable companion….

ditto this book too….i think you would find much relevance…if you were closer geographically, i’d give you a copy over some wine and conversation…

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-11449-3/after-the-last-sky

bb

Best of luck with your new project. I will impatiently wait for you to whisk me off my feet and take me far, far away on your journey through Egypt and be happily drowned in your flood of colours and emotions.

we do both…but the getting on with the living is the most important, of course….

agree completely!!!….actually writing a text about this now for Chicory (my book about my ‘russia’)…we deal with this continually with marina and dima and in fact, this lay at the center of Marina’s work too, as well as her upcoming exhibition…

we cling to these identities most often because we’re not given an opportunity otherwise, mostly instilled from above (parents/governments/religions/nations) shackling….

though even planetary identity risks the exclusion, as we love to subdivide….and conquer…

listening to my son and many young people her in Toronto, who struggle for meaning about this, is far more enriching than listening to the elders promulgate definitions…

cheers
bb

I think more likely the idea of these ethnic, nationalistic identities need to evolve into a concept of shared human, if not planetary identity if the human species is going to survive in a positive way. Unfortunately, there’s too much power to be had by fostering identities.

Bob: you contributed to the farmer suicide work and I hope you have managed to see the outcome of this contribution from my trip to India last May: http://www.illdieforyou.com

Eva: thanks for posting the link and for your support in February and back again now. Yes I have a long way to go still with the funding, but I am very optimistic.

Civilian: I was actually about to book a week in Greece for end of this month but then had a change of plan. I really like garlic chicken so I’ll be knocking on your door sooner rather than later.

Irina: thanks so much for your kind words and I hope to see you in India.

Panos: big fat thank you back at you.

Mike R: thanks for your feedback. I am curious to see where this stills/video “experiment” will go. I enjoy trying new things always and this will just be an extension of that. I am sure I am in for a lot of trial & error.

Frostfrog: I was previously under the impression you were a woman, but I guess I was wrong. I am glad many people here seem to have related to this idea of co-existing or having an identity crisis, which is essentially what I was referring to without going all out and using the “IC” word. I think it was only a natural outcome of living between east and west for much of my life.

Eric: thank you so much for your kind words and for your support to this project which I just saw this morning. It’s a very generous contribution. I don’t think we actually got to have a decent conversation in Perpignan given the craziness of Perpignan, but I do hope we can some time. If you come through London, pls do let me know.

Akaky: I have often wondered myself why this man was standing in the tree (he really isn’t in the tree). Personally, I have a major fear of heights, so seeing people doing stuff like that just makes me cringe because I imagine myself where they are and I start to feel weak in the knees. But I think it all comes down to people experiencing moments of peak excitement and doing things they did not necessarily think out. I also saw many people sitting on top of really tall light poles, including one man making a mobile phone call while sitting up there – not a care ion the world. There was another young boy who climbed a light pole, his mom saw him, then yelled at him and had a crowd of nearly 20 people abandon chanting and come to rescue this young one. His mother welcomed him with a smack on the head. So, what can I say!

Imants: “ahh dreams of the old country the way it should be” – this really is what this is all about. Feelings of longing for what used to be, or the hope for what can be.

Sidney: identity is key and I think regardless of one’s confusion about it (myself for sure), it is crucial to know where that identity sits based on heritage, upbringing, whatever.

Hugs all around ==> L.