HELEN JONES-FLORIO – PHOTOS TELL STORIES

Posted on March 3, 2020March 19, 2020 by Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

New work from ‘Gambia – victims, and resisters’ series

New work from our long form multi-media project –‘The Gambia – Victims and Resisters’: The family of Lt Ebou Lowe. Ebou was disappeared and executed by members former Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh’s hit squad, the ‘Junglers’, after he was accused of being part of a coup attempt in 2006 to overthrow the dictatorial Jammeh regime.

#Portraits4PositiveChange

New work from ‘Gambia – victims, and resisters’ series: LT. Ebou Lowe’s daughter, Amie Lowe ©Jason Florio / Helen Jones-Florio

Ebou Lowe’s daughter, Amie Lowe, photographed in her father’s room, left unchanged since he was disappeared in 2006 – “I grew up not knowing the love of a father. I was only three years old when he disappeared, so I don’t remember him. I only know him through what people have told me, that he was a good man, and some say he was a hero.”

‘Gambia – victims, and resisters’

Ebou Lowe’s sister, Zainab Lowe-Baldeh – “The road to justice is a long one for us but we hang tight. Ebou Lowe was a pillar to the family and a father of four, and was taken without a trace…knowing what has happened from the Truth Commission (TRRC) feels like a needle in a haystack.” Zainab is the co-founder of the Gambia Centre for Victims of Human-Rights Violations – a victim support group, now with over one thousand registered members.

Photography exhibition - portraits ©Jason Florio/Helen Jones-Florio from 'Gambia - victims, and resisters of the Yahya Jammeh regime, The Gambia, West Africa — ‘The Duty to Remember’ a Memorialisation Project and Photography exhibition, The Gambia – portraits ©Jason Florio/Helen Jones-Florio from ‘Gambia – victims, and resisters’ of the Yahya Jammeh regime, The Gambia, West Africa, in collaboration with ANEKED

The exhibition runs through March 24th, 2020, at the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC museum gardens), Banjul. It is free and open to all. Please visit the museum website for opening hours. A selection of portraits, from the ‘Gambia – victims, and resisters’ series are being exhibited, in a collaboration with ANEKED (African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances) NGO.

The Photographer, and the Producer – Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio, respectively. Image courtesy Joanna Demarco

#Portraits4PositiveChange

March 2020 – Currently in The Gambia, West Africa

Assignment queries and image licensing – Contact here

floriophoto.com

@jasonflorio / @floriotravels / @jasonflorio_photoprints / @doors_helenjonesflorio – Instagram

Jason Florio / floriotravels – Vimeo | Motion/Jason Florio

floriophotoNYC – Twitter

PhotosTellStories – FB

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

Photography workshops, The Gambia, with Jason Florio

Photography Workshops, The Gambia: Student portrait workshop - Kombos, The Gambia, West Africa, West Africa. Image ©Jason Florio — Photography Workshops, The Gambia: Student portrait workshop – The Gambia, West Africa. Image ©Jason Florio

We had a very timely reminder on FB this morning, about our last photography workshop, in The Gambia, January 2014. Timely, because this time next week we will be holding our next workshop, in-country.

Student portrait photography workshop - The Gambia, West Africa. Image © Ya Ida Drammeh. With Jason Florio — *Photography Workshops, The Gambia*: Image by workshop student, Ya Ida Drammeh

Photography Workshops, The Gambia

January 2014, Photography Workshop, The Gambia: The students spent most the first day in the classroom with their tutor, photographer and filmmaker, Jason Florio, where he covered the following topics: a brief history of photography; what is a photograph; portraiture; environmental portraiture; reportage; landscape photography (including showing the students images from all of our contributing photographers); guides and techniques; what makes a good photograph; rules of photography (rule of thirds, leading lines, etc.); lighting; editing…

Student portrait workshop - Kombos, The Gambia, West Africa. Image by Aisha P.Njie. With Jason Florio — *Photography Workshops, The Gambia:* Image by Aisha P.Njie

The resulting work, by the young students, culminated in an exhibition at Alliance Francaise, in The Gambia

The Gambia - Opening night of Photos Tell Stories exhibition - the photography students with Jason Florio and Helen Jones-Florio — *Photography Workshops, The Gambia:* Opening night of Photos Tell Stories exhibition – the photography students with workshop tutors, Jason Florio and Helen Jones-Florio

PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS, THE GAMBIA

Each evening, at the end of the workshop, in each region that we taught, the students’ work was exhibited in the village.

Exhibiting photography students work on a big screen, The Gambia, West Africa ©Jason Florio — Exhibiting the photography students work on a large screen, at night, The Gambia, West Africa ©Jason Florio

PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS, THE GAMBIA

Photos Tells Stories exhibition,
Photos Tells Stories exhibition,
Student portrait workshop – Kombos, The Gambia, West Africa
Photos Tell Stories Photography Workshops, The Gambia, West Africa
Student work
Students show off their certificates after completing the workshop
Night show of the students work
Student work
Jason Florio in the photography workshop classroom
Photos Tell Stories in partnership with US Embassy, Banjul, The Gambia
Bakau, The Gambia – thanks to ‘Jekkah’ for the PTS’s tote bags!
Kembujeh, The Gambia
Kartong, The Gambia
Kartong, The Gambia
Image© ALBERT NJIE
Students show off their certificates after completing the workshop
Helen Jones-Florio and Jason on Gambia TV for the opening of Photos Tell Stories exhibition, Alliance Française, Gambia
Press: Photos Tell Stories exhibition, Alliance Française
Exhibition opening night at Alliance Francaise
Thanks to FujiFilm, USA, for the cameras!
Josh Shrager, US Embassy and our sponsors for the workshop
YMCA, Fajara, The Gambia

January 2020 Photography Workshops – Keep an eye out for updates from our next workshop – this time, with young Gambian journalists and their photographs of their Gambia.

Photographer & workshop tutors, Jason Florio & helen Jones-Florio, The Gambia — Teaching movement in photography – workshop tutors, Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio by student Gerald Soweh

To find out more about booking a Photos Tell Stories photography workshop, or presentation, check this out.

Assignment queries and image licensing – Contact here

floriophoto.com

@jasonflorio / @floriotravels @jasonflorio_photoprints / @doors_helenjonesflorio – Instagram

Jason Florio / floriotravels – Vimeo | Motion/Jason Florio

floriophotoNYC – Twitter

PhotosTellStories – FB

Posted on December 16, 2019December 18, 2019 by Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

#NeverAgainGambia – In Remembrance of Deyda Hydara, June 9, 1946 – December 16, 2004

Gambia - victims and resisters: portrait of a man wearing a t-shirt with a photo of murdered newspaper editor and journalist, Dedyra Hydara ©Jason Florio — A young Gambian journalist wears a t-shirt of murdered newspaper editor and journalist, Deyda Hydara (June 9, 1946 – December 16, 2004). Image ©Jason Florio

#NeverAgainGambia – Remembering Deyda Hydara, June 9, 1946 – December 16, 2004, The Gambia. Hydara was gunned down by assailants, whilst in his car, as he was returning from work, in 2004. He was a journalist and co-founder of The Point newspaper and an advocate of press freedom. Hydara was also a fierce critic of the government of President Yahya Jammeh, who was openly hostile to Gambian journalists and the media.

‘Gambia – victims, and resisters’
#Portraits4PositiveChange

Baba Hydara with the tattoo of his murdered father, Gambia newspaper editor, and journalist, Deyda Hydara, on his arm © Jason Florio — Baba Hydara with the tattoo of his murdered father, Gambian newspaper editor, and journalist, Deyda Hydara, on his arm © Jason Florio

#NeverAgainGambia

July 22nd, 2019 – At Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) on July 22, army officer Lieutenant Malick Jatta named former President Yahya Jammeh as the mastermind behind the murder of prominent editor Deyda Hydara on December 16 , 2004. He said Jammeh had given the direct order to assassinate Hydara, an outspoken critic who was the managing editor and co-owner of independent newspaper The Point. The operation by Jammeh’s infamous hit squad, known as the Junglers, was dubbed “Magic Pen,” Jatta told the commission. CPJ – By Angela Quintal/CPJ Africa Program Coordinator, The Committee to Protect Journalists

Assignment queries and image licensing – Contact here

floriophoto.com

@jasonflorio / @floriotravels @jasonflorio_photoprints / @doors_helenjonesflorio – Instagram

Jason Florio / floriotravels – Vimeo | Motion/Jason Florio

floriophotoNYC – Twitter

PhotosTellStories – FB

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

Podcast Jason Florio – ‘9/11 to African Stories’

I met with Jason Florio in The Gambia in 2018 along with his creative, business and actual life partner, Helen Jones-Florio. It was a serendipitous meeting, well for me at least, as I was in West Africa involved in the recording of a political short documentary. We sat in a restaurant one evening by a beach close to the couples’ Gambian home discussing how Jason came to make his transition from the non-stop vibe of commercial photographic work in New York, to what at face value seemed an altogether slower pace of life on a continent four thousand miles from Manhattan.Neale James/Breath Pictures

Podcast Jason Florio – listen here

Podcast Jason Florio – images by the award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker – interview with Neale James/Breathe Pictures

Talking about his work in The Gambia, West Africa, as a photojournalist “The newspapers, and journalists, had a very hard time, under 22 years of Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorial rule. Journalists were gunned down…Deyda Hydara, was a very famous journalist who owned The Point newspaper, he was assassinated back in 2004. Chief Ebrima Manneh, another journalist that was ‘disappeared’… never to reappear. Journalists were tortured…” Jason Florio

Podcast Jason Florio – listen here

WATCH: Youtube: 9-11 the day The Towers fell, Jason Florio’s story

“Dear Neale & Jason, This film is a testiment, in both cases, to the importance of making documentary stories, thank you both for your remarkable work and voice.” Regards, Giles Penfold/Youtube comment

Podcast Jason Florio To quote from his website biography, Jason Florio’s focus has been on ‘under-reported stories about people living on the margins of society and human rights.’ His work has been recognised with a number of awards, including The Magnum Photography Award 2017 for his raw pictorial stories on migration. It’s little wonder that photographs of his reside in a number of public and private collections and his solo and joint exhibitions worldwide have been greeted by awe, enthusiasm, and celebration. Neale James/Breathe Pictures