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I'd like to tell you about Volkan, a bright 13 year old boy with a rare genetic skin disease that is leaving him weak and dependent on a wheelchair for mobility. At first glance, I admit, I wondered at the disease. I didn't get a run down of the participants' conditions, nor did I want them initially. It is good to see first the reflection of the creator, the beauty of the person, the joy in their eyes... the whimsy. Later, I asked. Degenerative. Expensive medicines. Dad carries him to school on his back. Story. But the real story came through Volkan's photos.

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In my 14 years of being involved with Turkey, I have never been afraid. This is not a scary country, with volatile and unpredictable people. From the exterior, people have always appeared kind, generous, welcoming. As a foreigner, I have never been the outlet for bottled up and fractured emotions. But I now realize what exists behind closed doors. I see more clearly what the average married woman tolerates from emotionally stunted and frustrated husbands. I have heard the stories of abuse and rights violations and seen with new eyes the lack of appreciation for human dignity in the farsical...

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In two weeks AFTR goes to Ankara, Turkey to partner with an organization ministering to families caring for disabled children. How fitting that the World Report on Disability was recently published by the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The report provides fresh research and ungirds our reasoning for conducting this photography project. Though its impossible to summarize a 300 page report, here are a few key points: Why is disability considered a human rights...

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"Stereotypes limit the imagination, and thus limit potential." John Hayes, Submerge. As it turns out, it is not just the media that uses images of the homeless to represent an issue and interpret for us viewers what we are to believe about this population. This nameless, faceless, story-less population. These modern day untouchables. The lowest of our American caste system. It is me, too. My own stereotypes, shaken when confronted with a real life story. A breathing story with a name, and a dream, and a tent discreetly hidden beneath the branches of an old pine in a city park in Denver. There...

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In preparation for next week's project with Prax(us), just trying to immerse myself in the Colorado scene of anti-trafficking. Great group doing work near and dear to my hear: community based research and participatory action research! Here's a wonderful video to serve as a reminder to myself and you faithful readers, every action, every conversation, no matter how small, is a start!

Every Small Action from...

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Denver Visual Voices Photography Workshop from A Face to Reframe on Vimeo.

Would you like to partner with us? Please visit our donate page to make a contribution!

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In the tenuous days of getting IRS approval to be an official tax-exempt organization, our paperwork was returned with three pages of questions. The theme? How would we avoid partnering with a known (or unknown) terrorist or conducting a project in a sanctioned country? In an attempt to go about this process on the cheap, avoiding lawyers and accountants and relying on library books and my own stubborn persistence, the pages and pages of government bureaucracy nearly swallowed me whole. But I emerged with a 501(c)3 letter from the government! A Face to Reframe is an official non-profit! And...

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