Statement Concerning Change

Change is one constant in everyone’s life that simply cannot be stopped, or for the lack of better word changed.  Photography documents the changes in our lives, whether in the form of a snapshot or a professionally taken portrait. A picture captures a moment in our life which can be studied and then becomes a point of reference. Photography has documented history and continues to do so. It is the perfect tool for bridging the gap between the past and the future or the West or East, the good and the bad. While we speak many languages, photography is the one language that does not change and is understood by all.

Contribution to Change

This is a series of informal portraits depicting individuals in Iran. The pictures were shot in Tehran during two trips in 2009.  In my images, I sought to document Iranians in their environment exactly as I saw them. I tried to demonstrate the diversity of Iranians — from the old Haji (Muslims who have gone to pilgrimage) photographed in a public bath, to the young female musician who posed for me in a park in central Tehran.

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I’ve spent much of my career working to deliver solutions to environmental and social challenges. This has taken me across countries and continents. Through languages and cultures. My cameras has never left my side, capturing what I dare and communicating this with a wider audience. Some create change only through communication. I work and then witness.

Aesthetically I am pulled to situations where darkness meets a unique and sometimes unconventional source of light. This is not planned: it’s simply what I find beautiful. I haven’t always tried to make a deep artistic statement with my work. It has either called to me, or it hasn’t. This has changed with time and context, and my work in Africa is motivated by much more. It’s a love for the cultures, the vibrancy and resiliency, the frustration and pain. It’s a small part of a larger passion to help the world understand and empathise with many of Africa’s problems and celebrate in its beauties. To most on the continent, Africa isn’t famine or war. It’s the struggle to access clean water. It’s the joy of a wedding celebration. It’s the love for and protection of family. But maybe that’s still the same theme: a Canadian in Africa trying to catch the point where the darkness of poverty meets the unique light of human spirit.

Change needs people. People to believe. People to act. People to change, both what is around them and what is within them. The key is catalyzing momentum. Change is not broadcastable. Change is not prescribed. Broad change is driven by conversation, contract and commitment. It is built of millions of individual agreements. Millions of individuals who determine that the reason is worthy of their work and sign up. Sign up as One of Those People Who Cares. One Who Acts.

And so broad change needs widespread individual imperative. This is a fleeting phenomenon. A connection must be built with the individual. This connection can be driven by reason. But more often, and more powerfully, this connection is built on compassion, empathy and emotion. Art can do this. Art can create that powerful connection and instil that imperative to act.

It is sometimes difficult for me to accept that art can be this trigger to create broad change. The results are not measurable. The impact cannot be evaluated. There is overwhelming complexity in understanding how Beckoning for Change will drive positive social progress in the years to come. How the people here will react to and act upon what we communicate as art. But while it is difficult for me to accept how this will happen, it is impossible for me to ignore that it will.

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