A glimpse into everyday Caribbean life, via GOOD.is. Check out the details below…
In 2008 and in 2009, the photographer Caroll Taveras ventured to Jamaica on two assignments, one for Culture and Travel and another for The Guardian. For the former, her work focused on the development of downtown Kingston, specifically as related to a youth art and cultural center known as the Rock Tower and the distinction between the areas of the city that are considered safe (uptown) and unsafe (downtown). After completing the assignment, Taveras developed a deep attachment for the area, and during her time there (and on her next assignment) Taveras felt compelled to keep taking photographs.
“When you get sent out on an assignment, even great assignments, you’re following a checklist,” she says. “But I always try to do something for myself. After I cover the ground I have to cover, I look for a few other things. Of course, music is such a big thing in Jamaica, and I, personally, was obsessed with dancehall girls.”
What follows is a selection of photographs from Kingston, Jamaica, through the lens of Caroll Taveras. This is a Jamaica you might not see in tourist brochures, and it’s all the more beautiful for it.
It’s that time again, Carnival season is upon us. Well…not US being that we’re in New York, but just about everywhere else in the world is partying it up. Hot off the heels of my post of Jose’s photos from DR, the crew at The Big PIcture have put together a great gallery of celebrations all over the world, including Trinidad, Brazil, Nice, Venice and more. Check out a few of the best shots below….
Once more, it is Carnival Season in many countries around the world with a Roman Catholic heritage. Celebrations and parades are put on just prior to the observance of Lent. Over the past few weeks parades and celebrations have taken place throughout Europe, the Caribbean and South America. An estimated 730,000 foreign tourists, many fleeing snowy winter conditions in Europe and the United States, traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for this year’s celebrations. Collected here are a handful of images from some of the elaborate celebrations of this Carnival season.
One of, if the best, photoblogs on the internet is Boston.com’s The Big Picture. They recently put together a piece on the continuing aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake. Check out a sampling of the photos below…
Tomorrow (Feb. 2nd) will mark three weeks since the massive January 12th earthquake in Haiti, and tent cities remain full, even as some businesses and factories are beginning to reopen in Port-au-Prince. Now that massive amounts of aid have arrived, distribution problems have cropped up and are being addressed. The World Food Program has begun a new system of delivering rice to 10,000 Haitians per day at each of 16 women-only distribution points around the city - restricted to women, since young men often muscle their way to the front of distribution lines, and the women are viewed as more likely to fairly divide up the food. Aid chiefs and donor nations are warning that Haiti will need at least a decade of painstaking reconstruction.
Vice Magazine recently published a great interview with the director of the classic Jamaican film Rockers, where he speaks on his life during and after the making of the film. Check out the quote from the interview below, on what became of most of the film’s stars…
“Most of them are dead. Half were murdered. Dirty Harry, for instance, was killed in New York. He went to jail for two years, probably for drugs or a fight. I’m not sure, I didn’t ask. Six months after he got out of jail someone killed him. The same with Natty Garfield.”
On Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, BBC 1Xtra headed down to St. Thomas, JA to docuemnt the event that was Sting 2009. The all-day affair included performances from Bounty, Vybz, Mavado, Kiprich and many more. For a taste of what went down, check out the gallery below….
1Xtra was at Sting 2009, bringing you all the best of the on-stage and backstage action.
An incredible line-up, electric atmosphere, amazing performances and a few on-stage clashes. One night that can make or break your career - it’s that important.
And be sure to check Robbo Ranx’s recap of the event on BBC 1Xtra tomorrow morning from 8-10AM EST and on BBC’s streaming audio thereafter. Click here to stream the show.
BBC has always been great with their photography and we’ve highlighted some of the their work around the Caribbean before. Now comes a new photo-essay highlighting the fight to end hunger in Haiti, after the string of natural disasters this year. Check out the details below…
A year after a series of natural disasters and civil unrest rooted in increasing food prices ravaged Haiti, people there are still struggling to recover. A third of the population - 1.9 million people - still do not have a guaranteed supply of food.
This is a great cause. Help Jamaica has dropped their 2010 Calendar, with 100% of profits going towards building their first library in JA. Check out the details below…
Christmas soon come…. Get your perfect Christmas gift right here – give out the calendar to somebody as a present and make a donation towards HELP Jamaica! the same way!
Put Jamaica in sight! Be reminded on the beautiful island everyday by some exceptional photos displaying the many facets of Jamaica. Great shots from eight parishes – different countryside, Kingston, charismatic people, promising school kids, fishermen, churches and more photos from international photographers. High quality calendar 14 pages offset-printed, the calendars are carefully single welded to ensure secure shipment!
Guaranteed, 100% of the money raised with this calendar will be used to establish our first HELP Jamaica-operated! education centre in Kingston, Jamaica.
The calendar retails for about $20 (12.50 €), plus shipping. For more info, and to buy the calendar, click here.
This coming Thursday, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance will be holding an opening exhibition for ¡Aquí! (Here) at their gallery in Washington Heights. Check out the details below…
¡Aquí! (Here) – An Uptown Latino Art Exhibition at the NoMAA Gallery
September 25 – December 30
Opening Reception:
Thursday, September 24, 6-9pm
¡Aqui! (Here) is the first group exhibition of this kind at NoMAA’s newly inaugurated gallery space in Washington Heights. ¡Aqui! (Here) exposes works by local artists depicting their creative experiences within our neighborhoods, as well as celebrate Latino arts and cultures uptown from September (Hispanic heritage month) through December 2009. A panel of jurors selected the fifteen artists exhibiting in the show whose work was curated by Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Special Projects Coordinator at El Museo del Barrio.
