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Follow this link to Caleb Cole’s website.

Albino Beauty

“Albino Beauty” proposes to search for and a show the diversity of the world we live in. The portraits of albinos celebrate a different kind of beauty and eliminate the stigma sometimes associated with difference.

Albinism comes from the Latin word albus, meaning “white”. It is a hypopigmentary congenital disorder, characterized by a partial lack of melanin pigment in the eyes, skin and hair, and very rarely, in the eyes alone. The eyes, however, appear pink or red because the blood vessels in the iris and retina reflect light, whereas in normally coloured individuals they are hidden by pigment. Albino people have very defective vision and their eyes are extremely sensitive to light. The skin is very white and never tans, so that sunburn is much more serious than in ordinary blondes.

Albinism is hereditary; it is not an infectious disease and cannot be transmitted through, blood transfusions and contact for instance. The principal gene, which results in albinism, prevents the body from making the usual amounts of the pigment melanin. Most forms of albinism are the result of the biological inheritance of genetically recessive alleles (genes) passed from both parents of an individual, though some uncommon forms are inherited from only one parent.

However, because organisms can be carriers of genes for albinism without exhibiting any traits, two non-albinistic parents can produce albinistic offspring. Albinism generally occurs with the same frequency in both genders. An exception to this is optical albinism, because it is passed on to offspring through X-linked inheritance. Thus, males more frequently have ocular albinism as they do not have a second X chromosome.

There are two main categories of albinism in humans:

• In oculocutaneous albinism (despite its Latin-derived name meaning “eye-and-skin” albinism), pigment is lacking in the eyes, skin and hair. People with oculocutaneous albinism can have anywhere from no pigment at all to almost-normal levels.

• In ocular albinism, only the eyes lack pigment. People who have ocular albinism have generally normal skin and hair colour, and many even have a normal eye appearance.

As mentioned before, in physical terms, albinos usually have vision problems and need sun protection. Nevertheless, they also have to face, very often, social and cultural challenges because of their ‘special’ human condition that frequently cause them a source of ridicule, discrimination, or even fear and violence. Cultures around the world have developed many beliefs concerning people with albinism. This folklore ranges from harmless myth to dangerous superstitions that cost human lives. Furthermore, brutal discrimination almost always happens in less developed countries where the general scientific knowledge of such occurrences are not widespread and superstition takes hold. It is also more frequent in countries where the skin colour varies from people with albinism the most likely because they are more easily differentiated from the general population. Portrayals of people with albinism in literature and films have historically rarely been positive. This fact is sometimes referred to as the “evil albino” stereotype, or albino bias from other people, although one must recognize them as normal human being with physical problems as other have differently perhaps.
These pictures have been taken mainly in Argentina, Spain, United Kingdom.

Paola de Grenet

For the past five decades, magicians, acrobats, jugglers, musicians, dancers and puppeteers have migrated from all over India to the small illegal settlement. Nearly all of the 1,500-3,000 (depending on who you ask) families in the colony are professional performing artists. Many have found success operating at 5-star hotels in India and at Cultural Festivals abroad, but they continue to return to their homes in the cramped, dirty streets of Kathputli. But these are also the streets where friends entertain each other by turning a burning piece of paper into a crisp 100 rupee note. Where the sounds of tablas and singing can always be heard in the distance. And where a daughter and father can be seen on a rooftop practicing magic…

Zackary Canepari

Chag-Po Nang-Ha » is a Tibetan expression which means “Take care of yourself.”

Jonathan Berger’s photographs document the clinics that provide medical care to the Tibetan exile community in India.
Tibetan Delek Hospital, founded in 1971, provides much-needed health care to the Tibetan and local Indian communities in Dharamsala, India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Tso-Jhe Hospital provides care is in the Bylakkupe Tibetan settlement, a large community of Tibetans in the south of India.

TB “negative” patients can be cured day by day at the clinics while the positive TB patient have to go for months at the hospital. The Dalai Lama is the hospital’s patron. Delek hospital’s 45-bed charitable hospital provides general medical care with a special focus on Tuberculosis, the single most serious infectious disease that threatens the Tibetan population and new arrivals in India. Although tuberculosis is a curable disease, the principal problem for Tibetan patients, especially young adolescents, is that they must follow the cure scrupulously day by day, or the disease mutates and becomes drug resistant.

Jonathan Berger

IDF reservists must “give” almost 30 days a year to their country, this includes serving in the occupied territories in order to execute the Israeli government policy……..some refuse to do it, others believe that no matter what, the loyalty to their country is above all ideological debate.

Ugandan women endure oppression everyday in a society run by men, but their determination runs the nation, regardless of politics. Women with HIV suffer from the prejudice and isolation that comes with having the virus. Many women are kicked out of their homes and abandon by their families if they decide to come forward and get HIV tests and treatments. Women and children, in many cases, starve to death or turn to prostitution because society turns their back on them.

The thousands of women whose tragic deaths lead to suffering and the continuous spread of the disease have brought about no positive change in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This series is focused on a group of women who have refused this destiny and sought control over their desperate situations. Their only opportunity for survival is through self-sustaining agriculture and unity. These are the faces of those who embody both the beauty and strength of a struggling nation.

God and Globalization

Photographs by Scott Lewis

The Jardim Edite favela, located at the foot of the landmark Estaiada bridge in an affluent section of Sao Paulo, Brazil, was once home to more than 550 families. Most are gone now, as the government of Sao Paulo has forced them to leave their homes to make room for a new development.

Many of the residents of Jardim Edite came from the countryside, often from poor rural communities in the North, seeking opportunity in the bright lights of the city. They built their homes first out of scrap wood and cardboard and whatever else they could find, but over the years some of the homes have grown into reinforced concrete structures with running water and electricity.

The neighborhood was home to several bars and restaurants, a barber shop and beauty salon, a bicycle repair shop and several other businesses. Some residents supported their families working for businesses outside the favela, many worked long hours collecting recyclables to take to a nearby sorting facility.

City officials have long wanted to remove the ramshackle homes and businesses that make up Jardim Edite. As part of the Favela Urbanization Project the government wants to replace the favela with a modern housing development. In September of 2008, a court order sealed the fate of this tight-knit community when a state tribunal judge said the project could go forward and the occupants should be evicted.

Plans call for a complex of buildings with 248 two- and three-bedroom. Officials from the Secretaria Municipal de Habitação (Municipal Department of Housing) have denied repeated requests for interviews and information about the proposed development project.

Some residents, those who were previously registered with the city as official occupants of the favela, are eligible for rent subsidies or cash payouts if they leave their homes. But these payouts are often not sufficient to find suitable housing , so many families end up moving to other favelas. Meanwhile the neighborhood, where some have lived for more than 30 years, is slowly being demolished.

There area lacks any semblence of an infrastructure, and there is no access to medicine and medical assistance. The only hospital is in Puerto Lempira, the capital of the Dipartimiento de Gracias a Dios. There are two surgery rooms but they are badlt unequipped. Only the luckiest families can rely on small 15-horsepower motorboat that are required to reach the hospital and even those with boats it can take many hours to reach the hospital.

La Moskitia is only by plane or by boat. There are no roads that connect it with the rest of the country. Water is the predominant element in the life of the Miskitos, and many survive by working as lobster fishermen.

Rich businessmen from the Bay Islands send their ship in Puerto Lempira to collect people wishing to be employed. Their equipment is old and the divers are tempted to take chances by the prospect of earning a much needed payday. Many suffer from Decompression Syndrome which leaves them unable to work and even paralyzed.

The Day of Ashura (عاشوراء (ʻĀshūrā’, Ashura, Ashoura, and other spellings) is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram. It is commemorated by the Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on 10 Muharram in the year 61 AH (October 10, 680 AD). Sunni Muslims believe that Moses fasted on that day to express gratitude to God for liberation of Israelites from Egypt. According to Sunni Muslim tradition, Muhammad fasted on this day and asked other people to fast.

There are different ways of mourning in different Shiite cultures from the beating of chests, beating oneself with a chain, even stabbing with a knife to their head, but Bijar is the only city of Iran which people cover themselves with mud a special mud brought from Kerbala where
Husayn died.

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When I was in high school, we often took part in a mass calisthenics, especially to congratulate our leader Kim Il-sung’s birthday. We were also mobilized to work in the country. One time we worked for two months, weeding and planting rice seedlings in the fields. We worked under the slogan of ‘Socialist Construction’ which inspired us to devote our youthfulness to the leader and the socialist country. We were up at six and went to the Statue of Kim Il-sung to sweep the square and take an oath of loyalty to the leader. I still have my family there in the north, including my adorable nieces and nephews. I miss them all. It’s almost ten years since I left home.

In the winter of 2000, I left my hometown where I had lived for 20 years. I came to South Korea, the southern half of the only divided nation in the world.. Only in recent years, the divided halves began to help each other on many issues. However, when I first got here, things were quite different. Those who wanted to have a dialogue with the north were simply condemned as ‘Red Communists.’ I never imagined the South was so cold and hostile towards the North. I thought I saw another North Korea in the south. It seemed the hostility between the two countries was now too deep to be reconciled. It’s deplorable that for these 60 years of division, we’ve never come up with any solution to settle the mistrust and animosity of homogeneous people.

We can see in this book the graphic reality of the North. The author tries to focus his lens on the inside of the North Korea which has been covered in veil, starting from Panmunjom at DMZ. He does this scrupulously and impartially from the viewpoint of a third party. He seems to be searching for answers to why the country still remains divided after so many years and what might be a solution for the country to be reunited again. Even in the daily activities of little children, it isn’t difficult to find the spirit of their socialist ideology. But the photos seem to tell us, “Yeah, this is what I look like. So, let’s get to know each other better.” Among the photos, there are many things that indicate that we are more in common than we are not, providing confidence in us that we could be reunited someday.

Seong Guk
North Korean Refugee

In early 2004, I was made aware of a ten day tour going to North Korea, organized by the Korean Friendship Association. This tour had the added benefit of allowing journalists to accompany and would involve extensive travel throughout North Korea. Tours of North Korea are usually limited to very specific tourist stops and very little to no interaction with the North Korean public, this tour had a little bit more flexibility in sites visited as well as the possibility to interact with locals on a limited basis.

As a visual journalist, I try to keep an open mind and an open eye. Much has been written about the various problems in the North Korean regime. This tour would obviously not be showing us any such dire situations and no matter how controlling a dictatorship is, they can’t control everything at all times. That said, having covered and documented some of these issues I was more interested in the daily hum drum lives of North Koreans, who, generally put their pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us. There is a minds eye picture in the world of North Korea as a ruthless military state, its citizens foaming at the mouth, bent on the destruction of the west. This view has great advantage from a military stand point and making a military strike much more palatable for the outside world. A similar strategy was used to great effect not too many years ago with devastating results for the average citizen just trying to make ends meet.

I decided to tackle my introduction to North Korea at face value and present what I saw how I saw it, without embellishment leaving it up to the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

Nayan Sthankiya