WHEN : 6th – 15th October
WHERE : Bleeding Heart Gallery
Emily Cowley: “For the past year I have lived in a remote coastal town on Sulawesi, one of Indonesia’s islands. During my time there I was lucky enough to spend time in several Bajau townships – small villages built on the ocean.
The Orang Bajau or sea gypsies of Sulawesi have roamed the seas for generations, using their renowned sea-faring skills and simple implements to make a living. My fascination with the Bajau and their way of life comes not only from my own love of the ocean and desire to live close to it, but also from the displacement of the Bajau people and their struggle to become part of any nation. Small groups of Bajau people line the shores of Taiwan, the Phillippines and Indonesia, yet the Bajau don’t have a solid grounding in any of these countries.
The Bajau are beautiful, calm, devoted communities and my photos show some of the people I came across whilst wandering through.
Kate Jardine: “Earlier this year I spent four months travelling in Burma and working as a doctor on the Thai Burma Border. My photos aim to display the unsupressible vitality and strength of a people oppressed by their government for the past 25 years, an entire generation of lives.
I spent three months with the Karen people, living on the border between Burma and Thailand. Over the past 25 years the Karen people have been forced to flee their villages, uprooting their communities and seeking refuge in Thailand. These images show the faces at the forefront of this struggle. From the Karen people I learned the value of patience and the strength of human connection in the face of oppression.”
