1. 16 Apr


    Random road shots: The Alkalo (village chief), Dam Sallah, and the village elders come to meet the team - Kerr Sat Maram, The Gambia, West Africa Image © Jason Florio A Short Walk in the Gambian Bush - a 930km African odyssey

    Random road shots: The Alkalo (village chief), Dam Sallah, and the village elders come to meet the team - Kerr Sat Maram, The Gambia, West Africa

    Image © Jason Florio

    A Short Walk in the Gambian Bush - a 930km African odyssey

     

  2. 12 Apr


    I’m in the middle of writing the book (long overdue!) based on A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush - our 930km African odyssey - and I’m almost at the end of our journey. The last day was a particularly tough one - the cart wheel coming off three times was only part of a nightmare of an extremely long and frustrating day. Here is Adama, the mechanic from Makasutu Culture Forest, doing his best to secure the wheelback onto to the cart again so that we can make the remaining few miles home. Janneh, Samba, Momadou and myself (Flo is taking the photo - heavy work, holding that camera, eh, Flo) transfer our gear, from the cart to the truck, to lighten the load, in an effort to move faster on the last leg of the walk…wishful thinking. More on the book soon… Image © Jason Florio - Serrekunda, The Gambia

    I’m in the middle of writing the book (long overdue!) based on A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush - our 930km African odyssey - and I’m almost at the end of our journey. The last day was a particularly tough one - the cart wheel coming off three times was only part of a nightmare of an extremely long and frustrating day.

    Here is Adama, the mechanic from Makasutu Culture Forest, doing his best to secure the wheelback onto to the cart again so that we can make the remaining few miles home. Janneh, Samba, Momadou and myself (Flo is taking the photo - heavy work, holding that camera, eh, Flo) transfer our gear, from the cart to the truck, to lighten the load, in an effort to move faster on the last leg of the walk…wishful thinking.

    More on the book soon…

    Image © Jason Florio - Serrekunda, The Gambia

     

  3. 11 Apr


    Random road shots: Almost the end of the journey - Helen Jones-Florio on The Barra-Banjul Ferry - across the River Gambia Image © Jason Florio - A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush - a 930km African odyssey

    Random road shots: Almost the end of the journey - Helen Jones-Florio on The Barra-Banjul Ferry - across the River Gambia

    Image © Jason Florio - A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush - a 930km African odyssey

     

  4. 5 Apr


    Random Road Shots: Gambian boy with feather in his hair Taken whilst on ‘A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush - a 930km African odyssey’ - 2009 - The Gambia, West Africa Image © Jason Florio

    Random Road Shots:

    Gambian boy with feather in his hair

    Taken whilst on ‘A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush - a 930km African odyssey’ - 2009 - The Gambia, West Africa

    Image © Jason Florio

     

  5. 3 Apr


    ‘Silafando’ - Award-winning portraits of village chiefs, ‘Alkalos’, and elders by Jason Florio Taken whilst on a 930km walk around the small West African country of The Gambia - 2009

    ‘Silafando’ - Award-winning portraits of village chiefs, ‘Alkalos’, and elders by Jason Florio

    Taken whilst on a 930km walk around the small West African country of The Gambia - 2009

     

  6. 23 Jan


    From the archive: Salafo & Penda Bah - Mr Bah is a Marabout, holy man and farmer who we met and stayed with, in the tiny village of Tuba Dabbo, whilst on our 930km walk around The Gambia, West Africa. Image © Jason Florio, 2009  One of a series of award-winning portraits of village chiefs (‘Alkalos’) and elders from ‘A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush - a 930km African odyssey’

    From the archive: Salafo & Penda Bah - Mr Bah is a Marabout, holy man and farmer who we met and stayed with, in the tiny village of Tuba Dabbo, whilst on our 930km walk around The Gambia, West Africa.

    Image © Jason Florio, 2009 

    One of a series of award-winning portraits of village chiefs (‘Alkalos’) and elders from ‘A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush - a 930km African odyssey’

     

  7. 23 Jan


    Image © Jason Florio - from ‘Silafando - a gift to you on behalf of my journey’ - an award winning series of portraits of Gambian Village Chiefs (Alkalo’s) and Elders, taken whilst on the first ever circumnavigation of the small West African country, by foot - 930km - with three Gambians, two donkeys, and a cart. L-R: Alkalo, Dadi Bah of Tuba Dabo & Alkalo, Kenbugal Fye of Barra

    Image © Jason Florio - from ‘Silafando - a gift to you on behalf of my journey’ - an award winning series of portraits of Gambian Village Chiefs (Alkalo’s) and Elders, taken whilst on the first ever circumnavigation of the small West African country, by foot - 930km - with three Gambians, two donkeys, and a cart.

    L-R: Alkalo, Dadi Bah of Tuba Dabo & Alkalo, Kenbugal Fye of Barra

     

  8. 23 Jan


    photos-tell-stories: Sunset, Baobab trees, and silhouette on the jetty, James Island (Former slave port) ,Juffreh/Albreda, The River Gambia, West Africa. Image © Helen Jones-Florio

    photos-tell-stories:

    Sunset, Baobab trees, and silhouette on the jetty, James Island (Former slave port) ,Juffreh/Albreda, The River Gambia, West Africa.

    Image © Helen Jones-Florio

     

  9. 23 Jan


    The Haggerty Museum of Art - recent aquisition - Jason Florio’s Makasutu B&W portraits, The Gambia, West Africa Image © Jason Florio: ‘Ensa (Gambian guide), holding freshly slaughtered cow head, for male ‘coming of age’ ceremony, Myork village, The Gambia, West Africa From the exhibition:  ‘The Truth is Not in the Mirror - Photography and a Constructed Identity’   January 19th-May 22nd 2011 Photography as a medium has always been actively concerned with describing identity. While a portrait is typically an artistic representation of a person where verisimilitude is the goal, here the inquiry is questioned and expanded. Rather than employing a camera to create an objective document, the artists in this exhibition are often involved in constructing narrative sequences that pose questions with open-ended outcomes. As the title, The Truth is Not in the Mirror... suggests, photography has the power to imply, construct, and/or deny a narrative. Many of the photographers are contemporary story tellers and, in this sense, their work reflects facets of our ever-changing precepts about family, identity, truth and fiction. The artists in the exhibition: Tina Barney, Claire Beckett, Valerie Belin, Dawoud Bey, Jesse Burke, Kelli Connell, Michael Corridore, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Rineke Dijkstra, Jason Florio, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Andy Freeberg, Lee Friedlander, David Hockney, Nikki S. Lee, Graham Miller, Martin Parr, Thomas Ruff, The Sartorialist, Alec Soth, Will Steacy, Larry Sultan, and Mickalene Thomas. http://www.marquette.edu/haggerty/exhibit_2011_01_photo_portraits.shtml For the Makasutu portraits, please visit Jason Florio’s website http://www.floriophoto.com/#/projects/makasutu/1

    The Haggerty Museum of Art - recent aquisition - Jason Florio’s Makasutu B&W portraits, The Gambia, West Africa

    Image © Jason Florio: ‘Ensa (Gambian guide), holding freshly slaughtered cow head, for male ‘coming of age’ ceremony, Myork village, The Gambia, West Africa

    From the exhibition:  ‘The Truth is Not in the Mirror - Photography and a Constructed Identity’   January 19th-May 22nd 2011

    Photography as a medium has always been actively concerned with describing identity. While a portrait is typically an artistic representation of a person where verisimilitude is the goal, here the inquiry is questioned and expanded. Rather than employing a camera to create an objective document, the artists in this exhibition are often involved in constructing narrative sequences that pose questions with open-ended outcomes. As the title, The Truth is Not in the Mirror... suggests, photography has the power to imply, construct, and/or deny a narrative. Many of the photographers are contemporary story tellers and, in this sense, their work reflects facets of our ever-changing precepts about family, identity, truth and fiction.

    The artists in the exhibition: Tina Barney, Claire Beckett, Valerie Belin, Dawoud Bey, Jesse Burke, Kelli Connell, Michael Corridore, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Rineke Dijkstra, Jason Florio, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Andy Freeberg, Lee Friedlander, David Hockney, Nikki S. Lee, Graham Miller, Martin Parr, Thomas Ruff, The Sartorialist, Alec Soth, Will Steacy, Larry Sultan, and Mickalene Thomas.

    http://www.marquette.edu/haggerty/exhibit_2011_01_photo_portraits.shtml

    For the Makasutu portraits, please visit Jason Florio’s website http://www.floriophoto.com/#/projects/makasutu/1


     

  10. 23 Jan


    Village chief’s - ‘Alkalo’s’ - Dadi Bah (Tubba Dabba) & Kenbugul Fye (Barra) - The Gambia, West Africa Award-winning images © Jason Florio

    Village chief’s - ‘Alkalo’s’ - Dadi Bah (Tubba Dabba) & Kenbugul Fye (Barra) - The Gambia, West Africa

    Award-winning images © Jason Florio