Gambia Doors – the series. Photography by Helen Jones-Florio

Gambia Doors – the (ongoing) series. Photography by Helen Jones-Florio. Prints available to purchase at helenjonesflorio.com online gallery.

I have been working on this particular series – #GambiaDoors – for many years. The vividly coloured, unintentionally quirky doors and storefronts from the West African country of The Gambia never fail to grab my attention. My husband, Florio, is now well-versed in my random, oft-shouted, ‘Stop!’ in his ear while we are zooming around on the motorcycle. In fact, he now engages in a little door spotting on my behalf. Conversely, over the years, I have also managed to startle several unsuspecting local taxi drivers.

#GambiaDoors - the closed frontage of a tailor shop with a pile of remnant fabric, and an old toilet, Bakau, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio
#GambiaDoors – ‘The Tailoring Shop’, Bakau, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio

“But why do you want to photo my shop?”

“But why do you want to photo my shop?”, is the question most frequently asked of me from baffled shopkeepers. After 20 plus years of living and working in the region, what may be considered quotidian to many of those shopkeepers, continues to be striking and wondrous to me. Enough to ‘stop!’ me in my tracks (or put the breaks on). 

#GambiaDoors: Doors and Storefronts of The Gambia, West Africa - barber shop storefront showing hand-painted hairstyles. Image © Helen Jones-Florio
#GambiaDoors: ‘The Standard Barber Shop Hair Stilist’, Serrekunda. Image © Helen Jones-Florio

Something is captivating about the misspelled, hand-painted, English-as-we-don’t-know-it, signage – the vivid and the faded paintwork, alike. Barbershops and beauty salons signs are a particular favourite. Ultimately, they make me smile.

#GambiaDoors - hand-painted beauty salon,'Juste Nails Bash' beauty shop, Serekunda, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio
#GambiaDoors – ‘Juste Nails Bash‘ beauty shop, Serekunda, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio

#GambiaDoors

#GambiaDoors - blue metal doors of a workshop, with hand painted telephone numbers, and an old car seat standing outside the closed doors, Bakau, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio
#GambiaDoors – ‘Workshop Tea Break’, Bakau, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio

@doors_helenjonesflorio

All of the #GambiaDoors images are available to purchase as photography prints, from our online gallery

helenjonesflorio.com online gallery

#GambiaDoors - the front of a shipping container, hand painted with faces, and the words'Black Light, Tanji, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio
#GambiaDoors – ‘Black Light’, Tanji, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio

Contact the Gallery

#GambiaDoors - a brightly coloured curtain blows in the doorway of a local bar, a Becks beer sign above the door, painted red with Coca Cola written on the wall, Banjul, The Gambia ©Helen Jones-Florio
#GambiaDoors -‘Come Inn’, local bar in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio
#GambiaDoors - the shop front of a local beauty salon in Serrekunda, The Gambia ©Helen Jones-Florio
#GambiaDoors – ‘Classic Beauty Salon’, Serrekunda, The Gambia ©Helen Jones-Florio

See more of the series @doors_helenjonesflorio and the helenjonesflorio.com gallery site.

Feel free to contact me here if you have any questions, or use the Contact Form on the gallery website.

Helen Jones-Florio

#GambiaDoors & #DisappearingMalta

Helen Jones-Florio, sitting on the doorstep of an abandoned house, Malta. Image by Jason Florio
Photographer/Videographer, Helen Jones-Florio, Birkirkara, Malta (#DisappearingMalta doors & storefronts). Image by Jason Florio

River Gambia Photography Prints by Jason Florio

River Gambia Photography Prints by Jason Florio – limited edition fine art prints are available to purchase at helenjonesflorio.com online gallery.

Ladies from the Santa Yalla kaffo - a collective that harvests rice for a landowner near River Gambia at Kaur. The earn 30 dalasis a day - 80 US cents ©Jason Florio
River Gambia Photography Prints by Jason Florio ‘Rice Ladies’ ©Jason Florio

‘River Gambia’

A woman checks her traps on the River Gambia, Senegal, in the early hours of the morning, West Africa. Image ©Jason Florio
River Gambia Photography Prints by Jason Florio ‘Catch of the Day’

Contact the Gallery

River Gambia Photography Prints by Jason Florio: A man's hands cupping water from the Source of River Gambia, Fouta Djallon, Guinea
River Gambia Photography Prints by Jason Florio: ‘The Source’ of River Gambia, Fouta Djallon, Guinea
The River Gambia – source-sea – from the Fouta Djallon Highlands, Guinea, into Senegal, and onto The Gambia, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean

December 2012 – January 2013 – My wife, Helen Jones-Florio, and I co-led the first recorded source-to-sea expedition along the length of River Gambia, from its humble source in the remote highlands of Guinea, through Senegal and into The Gambia where it widens to nearly 14km and exits into the Atlantic Ocean. We teamed up with two old Gambian friends, Abdou Ndong a fisherman and Ebou Jarju a school teacher, as our river guide and translator. River Gambia is one of the major arteries into West Africa from the Atlantic Ocean. First penetrated in 1455 by Portuguese explorers, fought over by the French and British, and traveled up by Scottish explorer Mungo Park on both his attempts to seek the course of the River Niger…Jason Florio – read more

River Gambia Photography Prints by Jason Florio: ‘Bonto Pier Solitude’

A selection of the River Gambia images are currently being exhibited at Photo Swindon – runs through 29th July, 2021

Photo Swindon International Photography Exhibition - 1st July-3rd October, 2021. Boys with painted faces stand looking at the camera, by the River Gambia, West Africa - advertisement for Photoswindon photo exhibition. Image ©Jason Florio
Photo Swindon International Photography Exhibition: Young boys pose for a portrait on the banks of River Gambia in Senegal. They said they had painted their faces like skulls for their own amusement. Image ©Jason Florio ‘River Gambia Expedition – 1044km source-sea African odyssey’

CURRENT LOCATION: United Kingdom – July 2021

Assignment queries, and image licensing – Contact here

Photo Swindon International Photography Exhibition – 1st July-3rd October, 2021. Jason Florio, Martin Parr, Sanne de Wilde

Photo Swindon International Photography Exhibition – 1st July-3rd October, 2021

‘In Sync – Natures of Togetherness’

Jason Florio | Martin Parr | Sanne de Wilde

Ladies from the Santa Yalla kaffo - a collective that harvests rice for a landowner near River Gambia at Kaur. The earn 30 dalasis a day - 80 US cents ©Jason Florio
Photo Swindon International Photography Exhibition: Ladies from the Santa Yalla kaffo – a collective that harvests rice for a landowner near River Gambia at Kaur. The earn 30 dalasis a day – 80 US cents. The Gambia©Jason Florio from ‘River Gambia Expedition – 1044km source-sea African odyssey’

Photo Swindon 2021

Jason Florio – Exhibiting 1st-29th July

Photo Swindon logo - photography festival 2021

Follow on IG @Photoswindon

Uniquely for a photography exhibition, each photographers work will tour three locations within each month. The touring nature of this exhibition breaks new ground being the first time this has been done in the UK to our knowledge. We hope this maximises accessibility to all the people of our rich and diverse community.

@photoswindon International Photography Exhibition – photographers and filmmakers, Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio, opening weekend of ‘River Gambia’ . Photo courtesy Joanne Jones

‘River Gambia’ – purchase fine art photography prints by Jason Florio

‘River Gambia’ fine art photography prints by Jason Florio – purchase from helenjonesflorio.com online gallery

Martin Parr – Exhibiting 31st July-30th August

The locations will be three of Swindon’s parks, The Town Gardens, Queens Park and the GWR Park; totalling an outdoor exhibition across three parks for a period of three months from 1st July – 3rd October 2021.

Sanne de Wilde – Exhibiting 1st Sept-3rd October

Additionally, for 2 weeks in October photography students from New College Swindon will exhibit their work in the Town Gardens, Swindon, and 5th October – 17th October for Graduate Photojournalism and Documentary Photography students from Centre for Art and Photography University of Gloucestershire.

For more information – Follow on IG @Photoswindon,
Twitter @Photoswindon, Facebook @Photoswindon
Photo Swindon International Photography Exhibition – A team punt a raft carrying a water pump that will be used to irrigate banana plantations that flank the river banks in Senegal. ©Jason Florio from ‘River Gambia Expedition – 1044km source-sea African odyssey’

Jason Florio completed the first recorded circumnavigation of The Gambia by foot, co-leading with his wife Helen Jones-Florio – a 930 km expedition, producing an award-winning series of portraits titled ‘Silafando’.
Three years later he co-led, with Helen Jones Florio his wife, the first recorded expedition of River Gambia from its source in Guinea-Conakry to the Atlantic Ocean, in The Gambia – creating a document of the communities that live along its 1130 km course before a planned dam was constructed.

 ‘ROGUE HIPPOS! & PHOTOGRAPHING DURING A DICTATORSHIP’

Podcast: Jason Florio talks to Neale James/Photography Daily Show about Photo Swindon, and the River Gambia Expedition

Huge thanks to Jennifer Berry & Jon Buckett for putting the exhibition together, for the above words, and for inviting us to be part of this incredible photography festival!

The Florios’

Header Image: Boys with painted faces, standing on the banks of the River Gambia, Senegal. Image ©Jason Florio

Youtube – ‘River Gambia Expedition – 1044km source-sea African odyssey’ ©Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

The Gambia: Storytelling Masterclass with Photographer & Filmmaker, Jason Florio, for the Creative Industries programme

Photography | Filmmaking | Production

The Gambia-ITC-Creative Industries. A group of photographers and filmmakers attending their first Masterclass with photographer and film maker, Jason Florio, May 2021. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio
The Gambia-ITC-Creative Industries/Andandorr Programme’s first Masterclass with photographer and film maker, Jason Florio, May 2021. Image courtesy Isatou Jallow/ITC, The Disruptive Lab, Fajara.

The Gambia: Storytelling Masterclass, 18th May 2021 marked the launch of a 5+ month project with the International Trading Centre /Creative Industries as part of the Andandorr Programme. We will be working closely with established photographers, and filmmakers, incorporating Masterclasses, one-one mentoring, workshops, skills enhancement, assignments, and exhibitions.

Photographer & Filmmaker, Jason Florio, sets up the screen with his work, in preparation for his first Storytelling Masterclass, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio
Photographer & Filmmaker, Jason Florio, prepares for his first Storytelling Masterclass, for ITC’s Andandorr Programme, The Gambia. Image ©Helen Jones-Florio

We are excited to get going with the Creatives! More news to follow soon, as we progress.

Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

Photography | Filmmaking | Production

For assignment queries, and image licensing – Contact here

Header Image ©Helen Jones-Florio, Storytelling Masterclass at The Disruptive Lab, Gambia

Photographers & Filmmaker, Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio pose for a photo in a semi-darkened room
Photographers & Filmmakers, Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio. Image courtesy of Joanna Demarco