I’m Glenna Gordon, an American photographer and journalist, presently commuting between West Africa and Brooklyn. Previously, I lived in Liberia. And before that, I lived in Uganda. I’ve traveled and worked in over a dozen countries in Africa.
This blog is named after a found object — a plastic lion that was in a crate of discarded items a friend and a few other artists had gathered. I sat on their roof in Nakasero, Kampala back in 2006, sorting through the crate. On that day, I was looking for something. “You are lost!” Ugandas say. But, on that day, I’d found this discarded kid’s toy, made in China on the cheap, that somehow ended up in East Africa. Something about the hollowed out, paint-chipped figurine appealed to my understanding of this place: I’d never seen a real lion, after all.
More pictures on tumblr.
In NYC?? Stop by the Half King tomorrow night. A group called Open Show is putting on a projection. I’m excited to see some of the other work and show some of mine too.
PRESENTERS
Mike Kamber - http://kamberphoto.com/
Marvi Lacar - http://www.marvi.net/
Glenna Gordon - http://www.glennagordon.com/
Stephen Mallon - http://stephenmallon.com/
Claudis Schulze - http://claudiusschulze.com/
Prints of select images are now available! See the full list here: Prints by Glenna Gordon. And, if there’s another image you’re hankering for that isn’t listed, feel free to drop me a note.
I’m into the Tumblrs. All in. Starting new ones all the time. For now, here’s a pretty decent list:
The folks over at Guatephoto just sent me a message about their 2012 festival – looks like a great event! Definitely worth checking out and submitting – deadline is August 31.
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of our world’s newest country — the Republic of South Sudan.
The new wires were in full swing. We’re swimming in photos of crowds with flags, individuals with flags, President Salva Kiir, and other festivities.
None of these images tell viewers anything other than what the South Sudanese flag and president look like.
Resorting to short-hands like, “it’s so complicated!” does little other than condemn photographers who had a couple of hours to take the pictures their editors want to see. Of course it’s complicated, but what does that complication actually look like?
Perhaps in a different media economy, we’d have seen more work highlighted in mainstream outlets by some of the photographers who have spent the last year documenting the new country and the years prior in the contentious region.
For viewers who want more than flags and festivities, here are some other options well worth your bandwidth.
Pete Muller – Into Existence: South Sudan
Trevor Snapp: Birth of a Nation
Sarah Elliott: Welcome to South Sudan
Dominic Nahr: Sudan’s border wars
Shannon Jensen – 193rd Country
Tim McKulka: From Khartoum to Juba
Adriane Ohanesian: South Sudan’s Occupation of Heglig
In the end nothing matters but the work. You can’t control how it’s taken, and the act of telling a story always involves a gap. Sometimes confusion is the risk of ambiguity–I say that to students all the time. It’s true at the fireside and it’s true in the parlor, and it’s true in made-up towns and New York. Two humans face one another, words come out of one, words go into the other mind through the ears and eyes of the listener. It’s a story. It’s simple. The gap is the thing. Make sure you build the bridge.
I joined!
for s. mourning loss, chasing light.
vermont, june 2012.