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Posted on April 30, 2020May 1, 2020 by Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

The Witch Hunts of 2009 – The Gambia. TRRC Digest Edition 10

‘TRRC Digest Edition 10 is out! The 10th session focused on the witch-hunt campaign ordered by Yahya Jammeh against mostly elderly men and women accused of witchcraft in The Gambia. Read the testimonies here ‘ ANEKED (African Network Against Extrajudicial Killings & Enforced Disappearances)

“Green Boys and magicians came around the village, singing, drumming, and dancing, and targeted NRP (UDP) opposition party members” Doudou Sanyang

The Witch Hunts of 2009 – The Gambia. Dodou Sanyang, in the room of his recently deceased mother, Naa Joni Sonko. She was one of over a thousand elderly people abducted on the order of the former president, Yahya Jammeh. Groups of Jammeh’s paramilitary troops along with his youth brigade, The Green Boys, and ‘magicians’ from Guinea, went from village to village as part of a nationwide hunt for witches.

The alleged witches were held for up to five days in secret locations and made to drink ‘Kubehjaro’, a hallucinogenic substance, and then forced to confess to witchcraft. Some were also severely beaten, and robbed by their captors. Some died at the detention sites, and others like Sanyang’s mother suffered years of illness before dying. Many in Sanyang’s village believe the elderly there were not targeted for witchcraft, but because the village had been an opposition stronghold – Essau, Northbank Division, The Gambia.

The Witch Hunts of 2009, The Gambia – Portraits © Jason Florio/Helen Jones-Florio, taken from the on-going ‘Gambia – victims, and resisters’ series

The Witch Hunts of 2009, The Gambia - Sankung Balajo, one of over one thousand elders abducted on the orders of then-President, Yahya Jammeh.. © Jason Florio/Helen Jones-Florio — The Witch Hunts of 2009, The Gambia – Sankung Balajo, one of over one thousand elders abducted on the orders of then-President, Yahya Jammeh.. © Jason Florio/Helen Jones-Florio

“I was kept for five days. When they forced me to take the medicine (‘Kubehjaro’ a hallucinogenic substance), I could no longer stand up… I fell down on the ground… ” Sankung Balajo

See more of the portraits, used in the past and present TRRC Digest Editions, taken from the ‘Gambia – victims, and resisters’ on-going multimedia series – a collaboration between Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

#Portraits4PositiveChange

Opening night of 'The Duty to Remember' exhibition at the National Centre for Arts & Culture, Banjul, The Gambia. A collaboration with ANEKED. Portraits on display ©Jason Florio/Helen Jones-Florio. Exhibition Image ©Jason Florio — Opening night of ‘The Duty to Remember’ exhibition at the National Centre for Arts & Culture, Banjul, The Gambia. A collaboration with ANEKED. Portraits on display ©Jason Florio/Helen Jones-Florio. Exhibition Image ©Jason Florio

Current Location: April 2020 – on lockdown in the UK

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Posted on March 26, 2020 by Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio · 1 Comment

COVID 19 London Lockdown. Homelessness. Images ©Jason Florio

COVID 19 London lockdown. Homelessness - a homeless man lies sleelping on the floor at the Southbank. Image ©Jason Florio — COVID 19 London lockdown © Jason Florio

Tuesday 24th March, 2020: The first day of the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s lockdown to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In Central London the streets were abnormally quiet, it felt as if nearly all of society had been sieved away, and only the homeless were left on the almost deserted streets. London has an estimated 170,000 homeless.

Images © Jason Florio – available for license ReduxPictures

COVID 19 London lockdown. Homelessness - A woman an wearing a face mask walks past a group of homeless people, in a semi-deserted London street ©Jason Florio — COVID 19 London lockdown © Jason Florio

COVID 19 London lockdown. Homelessness-A lone man reads the newspaper in a deserted Trafalgar Square, London. Image © Jason Florio — COVID19 London Lockdown. Image © Jason Florio

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COVID 19 London lockdown. Homelessness - A lone homeless man walks across a deserted Trafalgar Square, London. Image ©Jason Florio — COVID19 London Lockdown. Image © Jason Florio

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COVID 19 London lockdown. Homelessness - a lone homeless man sits on the street, Central London. Image © Jason Florio — COVID 19 London lockdown. Image © Jason Florio

See more of Jason Florio’s documentary / film work on his website

March 2020 – Currently, physical-distancing in the UK

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Posted on March 17, 2020 by Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

(self) Isolation… images ©Jason Florio

(self) Isolation - image © Jason Florio - a lone woman sits in a bed looking at her phone by a window overlooking the sea, Cornwall, UK — (self) Isolation – image © Jason Florio, March 2020, UK

(self) Isolation - image © Jason Florio - a lone woman stretches in the early morning, looking out the window at the sea, Cornwall, UK — (self) Isolation ©Jason Florio, March 2020, UK

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(self) Isolation - image © Jason Florio - a lone beach hut, on the cliffside, overlooking the sea, Cornwall, UK — (self) Isolation – Image © Jason Florio, March 2020, UK

But if you could just see the beauty,
These things I could never describe,
These pleasures a wayward distraction,
This is my one lucky prize.
Isolation, isolation, isolation, isolation, isolation
Words: Curtis-Hooky-Sumner-Morris / Joy Division

(self) Isolation - image © Jason Florio - a lone woman looks out at the ocean from a cliff top, Cornwall, UK — (self) Isolation ©Jason Florio, March 2020, UK

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(self) Isolation - image © Jason Florio - a lone wild pony eats grass in a field, Cornwall, UK — (self) Isolation – image ©Jason Florio, March 2020, UK

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(self) Isolation - image © Jason Florio - a lone stone-shaped heart, on a clifftop, overlooking the sea, Cornwall, UK — (self) Isolation – image © Jason Florio. March 2020, UK

(self) Isolation - image © Jason Florio - a vase of flowers on the window ledge in an ancient country church, Cornwall, UK — *(self) Isolation – image © Jason Florio, March 2020, UK*

Isolation - images ©Jason Florio - an old graveyard, overlooking the sea, Cornwall, UK — *(self) Isolation – image © Jason Florio, March 2020, UK*

Isolation - images ©Jason Florio - man sits on the the top deck of a bus, overlooking the sea, Cornwall, UK — *(self) Isolation – image © Jason Florio, March 2020, UK*

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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.