Category: News
2014 – An exciting year ahead…
Happy New Year 2014!
2013 was a busy and exciting year, which started in Cuba shooting a story about Santeria religion (now available for syndication, contact me for info). Whilst in Havana I did a piece for BBC travel, and a city guide for National Geographic Traveller. Next was Jamaica for a personal reggae journey, which included photographing an orthodox Rastafarian community, the story is to be distributed by PYMCA.
Returning to London in March, I threw myself into a project about Free Party Rave culture, a subject close to my heart and my major project for MA Photojournalism at the University of Westminster, graduating with Distinction. Some of the work was published in Dazed and the Telegraph online. In November 2014, it’s 20 years since the Criminal Justice Bill made raves illegal, ‘Free to Party’ is due to be published in book form, showing how this important subculture has continued, regardless of being outlawed for so long. Available for syndication as a feature, contact me for further details (+44 7748 800276)
Other notable moments in 2013 included; photographing the West Indies Cricket Team for sponsor Confident Group; updated website and licensable online archive; new representation by Mike Kemp’s In Pictures and music culture archive PYMCA. I’ve also added lots to my collections managed by Robert Harding and 4 Corners, did an assignment in Prague for BBC travel, got Lewes bonfires into GEO Saison, spoke on a panel at One World Media festival about Retomada (which they funded in 2012) and saw Retomada shortlisted for the Amnesty Media Awards.
2014 I’m based in Brazil, available for assignment throughout Latin America
First stop is Salvador de Bahia to shoot Afro-Brazilian Candomble for the religion project. Then Buenos Aires for National Geographic Traveller; the Street Child World Cup in Rio; after that further plans TBC.
The final, and possibly most significant piece of news is that as Gaia Media; Jonathan Perugia, myself and Toby Richards are about to start a two year contract for the United Nation’s – WSSCC / Global Sanitation Fund (GSF). The project will be documenting the implementation and auditing of WASH initiatives in 10 focus countries throughout 2014 and 2015.
It recently came to my attention there was a technical issue with my email hosting, so if you sent a message to phil@philclarkehill.co.uk and didn’t receive a response – it’s because I didn’t receive it. My sincerest apologies, it has now been rectified.
1 week to go until my festive Open Studio
Just a week today I’ll be throwing open the doors of my little studio in Stoke Newington for a festive open studio print sale. Plenty of different work available, both old and new, plus orders available on the night, and special offers. So if you’re in the area, come down for some mulled wine and photography. This is also to mark the launch of my online print shop which I’m currently building in Photoshelter.
Lewes Bonfires in GEO Saison
Very pleased to announce my first serious publication in Germany and joining of the GEO family – a double page spread from Lewes bonfires in the very prestigious travel magazine GEO Saison in the Fernweh (itchy feet in English!) section. Here’s a link to a preview of the issue, and the image is below. Thanks Karin Rogers for running it.
One World Media Festival
Last Saturday I has my first proper experience of public speaking – I was a panelist at the One World Media festival. One World funded me last year to produce the project Retomada in Brazil, looking at how the Guarani indigenous community are being affected by large scale monoculture agribusiness.
The talk and screening went well and there was a good attendance, there was also some other great events in including a talk about ‘the rising voice of the global south,’ and an interesting discussion about the rise of majority World practitioners gaining recognition in ‘putting the foreign back in foreign correspondent’ also a lighthearted end to the event with a comedy show by Jane Bussman, titled Bono and Geldof are C**ts.
Here’s a link to some photos, clipping and info about the event, and below is the piece that I produced with the grant and that was screened at the event.
Retomada:
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/53084682]
BJP Social at the Photographers Gallery
Big up to Steve Mcleod, Peter Dench and the British Journal of Photography for the social last night about preparing a portfolio. Some great tips and generally a really nice evening talking shop. Looking forward to the next one.
ASOS ‘tonight is’ project
One of the pictures from my recent project Free to Party was picked up and licensed to ASOS recently for their ‘tonight is’ campaign, which used from up and coming photographers, creating a series of pictures that represents youth culture and what it means to be footloose and fancy free, I’m pleased that my work comes across like that! as I certainly feel like that a lot of the time. It was also great to see how a personal project could be used in a commercial context. Here’s the link to the piece and on there you can also see the rest of the project so far, they are still posting a picture on the masthead every day…
Time Lightbox – The Monkey and the Mask
Highly disturbing but very striking set of photos from Perttu Saksa on Time Lightbox last week – look closely and read the intro, these are actual monkeys, a truly haunting series here.
http://lightbox.time.com/2013/10/29/the-monkey-and-the-mask-reflections-on-primal-fears/#1
Punchdrunk Theatre Band
Here’s a couple of pics from the shoot I did for the band Walk of Terror, who are the official Punchdrunk immersive theatre show band, who play in the show ‘The Drowned Man,’ currently showing at Temple Studios, near Paddington, London. For more information about Punchdrunk, see their website
Free to Party and MA results
Westminster MA Photojournalism results are in, and I’m pretty darn chuffed to say I got a distinction! Here’s a link to the piece that I made for my major project:
Free to Party
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/74160919]
Cuban Santeria
The main documentary story I was working on in Cuba was about Santeria, a very Cuban religion. Below is the project sysnopsis and a couple of pictures to get you intrigued…
The full story can be viewed on my website
Santeria, ‘the worship of saints’, is gaining ground as a popular religious practice in Cuba. Developed in the African slave societies of the island’s 18th century sugar plantations, it is a syncretic religion adopting elements of Spanish imposed Catholicism whilst maintaining the central beliefs of Africa’s kidnapped natives, primarily Nigeria’s Yoruba tribe. As a practice rooted within a world of oppression Santeria is shrouded in secrecy, surviving first the ruthless command of slave masters and imperial governance and later the religious intolerance of Castro’s government, it owes its continued existence over the centuries to the prevalence of the oral tradition, with believers passing on, preserving and nurturing its secrets through countless generations. Today, Santeria has emerged from the shadows of a Cuban society now at liberty to practice religion, and is witnessing not only an increase in acceptance, but popularity also.
In its earliest days Santeria was an exclusive slave practice – a rejection of the masters’ Catholic saints and the colonial Christian God – and it was the slave social centres (Calbidos) of the tiny village of Palmira that witnessed its first inception. Here, Cuban slaves congregated on a weekly basis in order to worship the spirit gods of Oloddumare and the Orishas, through whom they believed mortals communicated with the higher God. The Orishas are semi-divine beings, each expressing a specific aspect of human existence: Ochun is manifested in romantic love and money matters, whilst Oggun represents war; Chango embodies passion and virility, and Babalu Aye, healing. In return, each enjoys one day of the year dedicated to his or her honour, on which Santeros will summon the Orisha through music, dance, and ceremonial performances in which offerings of food, rum and animal blood are made to the present spirit.
As the religion has evolved each Orisha has become firmly associated with a specific Christian saint; Yoruban Chango, for example, is now synonymous with Christianity’s young beheaded Santa Barbara. This form of worship demonstrates the equal faith that many of Santeria’s adherents have placed in both the Orishas and the Catholic saints, and by accepting and adopting the beliefs of both Cuba’s historic oppressor and oppressed, they have formed a religion that can neither be labelled as truly Christian nor Yoruba, but which is inherently Cuban. Indeed, as with other syncretic religions practised in Latin America, Santeria offers an outlet through which modern Cubans can fuse together a ruptured past. After its centuries of underground existence, Santeria is becoming an open practice with participation coming from all levels of society. Representing a shared identity, Santeria is a cultural inheritance, a dynamic form of worship, a religion uniquely Cuban.
Phil Clarke-Hill and Alessandra McAllister 2013
Voices of Prague – BBC Travel Online
I’m pleased to say the second assignment I’ve done for BBC Travel Americas has just been published, this time it’s a local’s take on Prague.
‘Voices Prague’ can be viewed at this link or here if you are viewing it in the UK.
Enjoy
