From my upcoming Through The Infirmary documentary project.
Tag Archives: Laos
Through The Infirmary #47
Unexploded Ordnance Survivor Video
Last year I created a video for World Education (WE) in Laos. It’s a short documentary fundraiser for the War Victims Medical Fund (WVMF). When I was approached with the idea by one of the team members from WE’s Victims’ Assistance Support Team (VAST), I knew I had to do it—although, it wasn’t an easy video to make. I feel very strongly about the people still being affected by United States’ Vietnam-era munitions, and at times was overcome by the pointlessness of the violence happening to them.
If you cannot see the video above, click here.
My only disappointment about the project was that I didn’t get to travel to Teuy’s remote village when VAST did a checkup trip. When the team gathered in Teuy’s home, as is usual, many of the neighbors came by to see what was going on. When they saw him opening bottles of water and bags of chips, they were amazed. When they commented on it, Teuy said “And I can do a lot more!”
That would have made an amazing end to the video, but knowing it happened was enough.
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Unexploded Ordnance: Don’t Touch!
This is a poster that is at the Phonsavan, Laos, office of UXO-Lao, the national demining organization. As you might expect, more boys than girls are maimed/killed by the Vietnam-era unexploded ordnance left over from the Secret War, in which the United States played a major role (those are all munitions manufactured/deployed by the United States pictured in the poster).
The red text in the upper left states Haam Jap! (roughly translated: Don’t Touch!). I’ll have a follow up post about a very cool film project done with the Lone Buffalo school’s students soon. Stay tuned!
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Buddha Tree In The Mist—In A Client’s Home
I met a wonderful couple, Tim and Lena, in Laos, he was working for the UN at UXO-Lao on unexploded ordnance (UXO) demining projects and she was working at COPE. They really loved my Buddha Tree in the Mist panorama. So, here are some shots of it hanging in their home in Oslo. The print is actually hanging straight on the wall, but after some champagne and Tim’s self-admittedly questionable skills with a camera… thank you both!
Here is Buddha Tree in the Mist:
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Through The Infirmary #2
In Laos, as in most of Asia, one takes off their shoes before entering a building. This is a great practice, keeping the inside of buildings much cleaner. However, it can lead to a bit of chaos right at the doorway… click to enlarge.
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Beauty In Simple Things, #2
I love the way the back rim of this bowl starts to blend into the background. I’m not sure what this particular bowl is used for, but I’ve seen them all through the hospital. One, holding bloody surgical instruments after a surgery; another holding water used to wipe the face of a woman in labor; and another, in a remote health center, again holding surgical instruments—instruments doused with alcohol and set afire to sterilize them. Such a simple item, so many uses, polished by so many hands.
This is the second post in my series Beauty In Simple Things. Take a look at the first post in the series here.
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Through The Infirmary #17
Since the hospital had long since run out of high intensity lamps for the operating theater, this is what was used when operating on a patient… apparently it is quite dark inside a human! From the upcoming Through The Infirmary project.
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Through The Infirmary
This is from a new project tentatively titled Through The Infirmary about my experiences while working with an non-governmental organization in a Laotian hospital. And yes… it is a color photography project. My first…
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Being and Time
All apologies to Heidegger’s Being and Time (Sein und Zeit)…
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Lao Woman
I took this photo of the feet of a Lao woman after she had taken a long journey. This when I was shooting with Médecins Sans Frontières in the Xamti District Hospital in the far Northeast of Laos. She was the wife of the village chief—and had walked three hours to get to the hospital.
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