With the eyes of a child

With the eyes of a child Photobook Four lost corners of the earth, captured by someone who had never taken a photograph before in his life

Stefano Maria Palombi Edition 01/2011

2

With the eyes of a child

Stefano Maria Palombi Edition 01/2011

2

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

38

40

42

44

46

48

50

52

54

56

58

60

62

64

66

68

70

72

74

76

78

80

82

84

86

88

90

92

94

96

98

100

102

106

108

110

112

114

116

118

120

122

124

126

128

3

4

130

132

134

136

138

140

142

144

146

148

150

152

154

156

158

160

162

164

166

168

170

172

176

178

180

182

184

186

188

190

192

194

196

198

200

202

204

206

208

210

212

214

216

218

220

222

224

226

228

230

232

234

236

238

240

242

5

6

244

246

248

250

252

254

256

260

262

264

266

268

270

272

274

276

278

280

282

284

286

288

290

292

294

296

298

300

302

304

306

308

310

312

314

316

318

320

322

326

328

330

332

334

336

338

7

WITH THE EYES OF A CHILD

I had already visited the Sudan a few years before, in my imagination. At the time when I devised a promotional campaign for Amani, the Association that had supported the Nuba people in their struggle during that interminable war. Now I was about to go there with the rest of me. We would enter the Nuba Mountains territory on a Liberation Army plane. It was a unique and perhaps unrepeatable opportunity for me to see, with my own eyes, today, Africa the way it presented itself one thousand years ago.

I knew that the geographical location of the region and the war had fostered the Nuba people’s isolation and that the reality I would be faced with in a few days’ time was not very different from that described by George Rodger, Leni Riefenstahl, and my friend Francesco Zizola. For once, I would not have had to work, there would be no crew, no inexorable shooting schedule to measure the coming and passing of dawns and sunsets by. For this reason too, perhaps, I was nervous, I didn’t want to come back empty handed. So I decided to bring along with me

sixty disposable picture cameras. One of our stopping places, in fact, was to be a school secluded amongst the hills where hundreds of children would be waiting for us.

To get there, many of them would have had to walk for hours on end and, most probably, none of them had ever held a camera in their hands before. This is the idea, the idea that I presented to the Italian Episcopal Conference.

I wanted that, for the first time in their very ancient and legendary history, it would be the Nuba to tell about the Nuba. And I thought that it would be wonderful if it was the youngest among them who did it. So we set off, so we handed out the cameras and gave, under the shade of a giant baobab, short and rudimentary photography lessons to sixty groups of children, each of which was made up of three or four small photographers between the ages of six and thirteen. Their assignment was simple: tell about how you spend one of your days and have fun! And so it was that, at sunset, the first Nuba photojournalists in history disappeared on the horizon! After three days, almost all the cameras had been returned. After a few more days, we too had returned. When I picked-up the developed

and printed snapshots, I was as excited as if I were about to open a letter from a lover. The purity, the mystery, the candour and the magic were all there. I was enthusiastic.

And my client, the Italian Episcopal Conference was even more so. So we decided to repeat the project also in three other forsaken corners of the world. Among the Yanomami indios, in the heart of the Amazonian jungle, in Papua New Guinea, and in Nepal, in villages more than 12,000 feet above sea level. Thousands and thousands of miles, thousands upon thousands of pictures, and, in the end, finally, an exhibition: With the Eyes of a Child.

10

11

12

13

14

The Nuba are a people of very ancient origins. The slaves who managed to escape from the caravans of the slave traders found refuge in these mountains in the heart of the Sudan. Though legend has it that there are 99 different languages here, one for each mountain, the identity of the Nuba is strong and rooted. Highly capable farmers, celebrated fighters, the Nuba have succeeded in resisting a long and terrible war. Today, finally, these men and women are experiencing, after many years, days of freedom, and their children, for the first time, days at school.

And it is precisely in the schools and in the training of teachers that the funds of the Eight Per Mille of the Catholic Church and the indefatigable work of the NGO Amani, which has done so much and continues to do so much for this proud and smiling people, have been concentrated.

Africa, Sudan: Nuba

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

Half-way between heaven and earth lies the Mustang valley in Nepal. Bridges suspended over the void, streams of ice, shepherds on route for days, motionless villages amid clouds that are never still, the regular breathing of the porters who walk up there. And then the children. Often without shoes, too often without books and notebooks and without a school like the one created, not least with the help of the funds of the Eight Per Mille of the Catholic Church, by Sister Rufina and the other sisters of the Congregatio Jesu. Today, St. Mary’s School has 800 students who come from many different valleys. And it wants to become ever bigger, to help ever greater numbers of children to grow happily.

Asia, Nepal: Mustang

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

Papua New Guinea is really on the other side of the world for us. The Trobriand Islands are even a bit further off. Here time has stopped and even the wind, which raises many-feet high breakers and bends the palms to a deep bow, seems unable to make it move. Here houses are huts, kitchens are campfires, food is fish caught using a harpoon, and the sources of light are the Moon and the stars. Here isolation is total and total is the need for help. Here, far away from everything, Italian missionaries and nuns, helped also by funds of the Eight Per Mille of the Catholic Church, offer health and social services and training schools for all.

Oceania, Papua: Trobriand

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

Up until a few years ago the fate of the Yanomani Indians seemed sealed. Diseases, pollution, deforestation encroached upon their thousand-year-old life-style, making their days a continuous struggle for survival. Today the situation has changed and the Yanomani have begun to grow again in number and have gone back to living in marvelous symbiosis with their at last protected territory. If this has been possible it is also thanks to men like Father Carlo Zacquini, a missionary of the Consolata order, who has spent over twenty years in these places among the Yanomani, defending their rights and promoting training and health-assistance projects supported not least by the funds of the Eight Per Mille of the Catholic Church.

America, Brazil: The Amazon

259

260

261

262

263

264

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

276

277

278

279

280

281

282

283

284

285

286

287

288

289

290

291

292

293

294

295

296

297

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305

306

307

308

309

310

311

312

313

314

315

316

317

318

319

320

321

322

323

324

The commitment we made to all the communities involved in the project was that the pictures that were selected and printed would return also to the villages of the photographer-children in the form of a traveling exhibition. And so it was.

Vernissage

325

326

327

328

329

330

331

332

333

334

335

336

337

338

339

340

With the eyes of a child Agency: Fatal Error Concept, Texts and Creative direction: Stefano Maria Palombi Project manager: Arminia Davidson Photographer vernissage: Fracesco Zizola Translations: Lyrical Translations www.lyrical-translations.com The photographies are realized by the children of the community of the Yanomami reservation in the Amazon, of the villages in Mustang valley in Nepal, of Kiriwuina Island in Papua New Guinea, and of the Nuba mountains in the Sudan.

This project was implemented within the framework of the Eight Per Mille communication campaign of the Catholic Church. www.stefanopalombi.com

342