* This post was originally published on tamaralackeyblog.com
Last week I wrote about my concept for aportrait photography galleryfor the Kidane Mehret orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. And I spent two full weeks photographing the approximately 65 children who live in this orphanagewith the intention of creating thisgallery, feeling astrong desireto create it for a few reasons. First, one of the things I noticed from my experiencephotographing children in orphanages is that although they may know to look at the back of a camera or at a mobile phone to see theirphoto, it’s quite rare that they ever see a printed photograph of themselves. And nearlynevera larger portrait piece. I do that in my studio work every day. I know the impact of giving that – and I wanted them to experienceit.
I also know that although the job of an orphanage is to care for their children, many of these institutions tend to be, in general, rather austere, clinical, almost hospital-like environments. I looked up these stairwells and along these tiled walls, and I couldseethis gallery, these photographs I had yet to shoot,gracing the walls and truly warming them up, making the whole environment feel less like an institutionand more like a home.
Lastly, like I’d mentioned in mylast post, I wanted these children to look up at this gallery and not just see their beautiful facesbut alsobetter see the connection that they all have to each other there. Although I wish each of these children could be joinedwith a family and live in their family home, statistically that is not their future. Most will spend their childhood in this orphanage. So I wish for them to see thatalthough they may not have a traditional family, they still have “their people”. To see that they are talented and smart and crazy beautiful and care much and are cared for AND ARE WORTH SO MUCH VALUE.
And I wanted them tosee that on the walls of the orphanage they live in each and every day.
Weare either in process or havefinishedother renovation projects for thisorphanage through our non-profitBeautifulTogether– likerenovating the bathroomsandsafeguarding the orphanage, but thiswould be a bit of a different project. Not as directly critical for their health and physical safety but arguably just as critical – if not more important – since it touches on their sense of self-worth and their needfor community and family.For belonging.
I photographed these children over the course of two weeks whilespending days tracking down a printing solution. II finally found a shop that had an in-house printing option, though, and thetest prints looked good. The next task was to create these sturdy, moveable-if-necessary, protected pieces. This particular gallery would haveto withstand lots of children’s fingerprints, water spills, or worse. The pieces also couldn’t be too heavy, lest they accidentally fall on an unsupervised toddler – but they also couldn’t bend over time. They also needed a strong adhesvive, since many of the pieces would be secured to tile. Lots to consider. The solution ended up beinga print secured to a custom double-mounting, about a 1/2-inch thick, which would assure that the print wouldn’t warpover time, with a very strong adhesive applied to the back of the mounting. In addition, a matte-laminate,waterproofprotectant seal was placed over each enlargedprint. A lot to bring together for that many pieces, and a rather unusual request, butit worked!
All photographs were shot with the exact same gear kit: myNikon D810, my 24-70 2.8, and all kinds of handy reflective objects (think white sheets, metal bounce, etc.)
We started out with these bare walls, and I pulled my first piece out to show a rather giddy subject her portrait:
And then I just started hanging the pieces. My wonderful husband, Steve, not only helped immensely but also took nearly all of these photographs. (I should note that he now considers himself a premiere gallery show photographer.)
Each time I pulled out a new piece, the childrenwould shriek the name of whoever was in the print and they would cheer and laugh and race out to get the person if they were not there. And then they did it again. And again. And this went on forhours,since it took quite a while to hang every piece and make sure they were spaced apart just right.
But, man, talk about the real-time response making all the worksoworthit.
I loved the unbelievablejoy and glee each child experiencedseeing his or her own portraitfor the first time. There was so much pride and sweetness inthe way they all complimented each other and even laughed with and clapped and hugged each other – honestly, BEST GALLERY OPENING EVER.
I had started out hanging thesepieces just with a child or two around me, but the audience grew with each piece I presented to hang along the walls until I was absolutely surrounded – and it stayed that way for the rest of the “Gallery Opening”. I don’t think these stairs have ever been so packed before, for so long in a row. I loved it.
THIS was a very touchingexperience. This boy has incredibly impaired sight.He gets around on his own throughout the orphanage without a cane or any aid, but when I was photographing all the kids, he kept wanting to look at the back of the camera. I’d show him, and he would hold the LCD right up to his glasses and slowly move it around, still right up to his glasses, to see every inch of the 3 inch screen, in an effortto see the entire image. He loved the photo-taking process. I finally had to make a deal with him that I’d let him shoot for a while if I could skip showing every single photo of every child every single time. (Luckily, he accepted the deal.)
So to show him his photograph (and he looks awesome in it), for him to be able to see all these photographs, so readily and with so much more ease? Honestly, it brought tears to my eyes. It was one of the best surprises of the gallery show, his vivid experience of it.
This woman, below, is the Sister who runs the place and has been there, caring for these children, for over 59 years. She knows how to get things done and is rather no-nonsense when it comes to most things.Throughout all the conversations and negotiationswe had with various crew members (a lot, waaaay more than I expected) while working on ourBeautiful Togetherprojects, she would look around the room of mostly Ethiopians and say “Careful. I know everything that goes on here.And, never forget, I’ve been in this country longer than any of you.” And she was right.
She was the one who gave me thego-ahead to create this gallery. She knew about it but hadn’t really known what to expect. Soher heartfeltapproval of the pieces, her genuinely surprised smile at the photographs andat the overall gallery, just the warmth of her compliments, was definitely some kind of top prize for me.
When all was said and done, we hung all these pieces – shot throughout the course of these two weeks, along with several that had been shot last year when we’d visited – in four different places throughout the orphanage. In the entranceway and along the first set ofstairs:
And again along the second floor – and throughout the baby room and also in another hallway:
All in all, this was anextraordinarilymeaningful experience, and one I would honestly wish on any artist. I love that even though we had to return home, this still stays with all of them, as this gallery is a testament to their worth and beauty and connection to each other.
I greatly look forward to adding on to it every time we go back.
