Back to Business

I have spoiled you all with 4 posts this week, so let them sink in because they will be the last for a couple weeks. Tomorrow I head back out to Guna Yala and will hopefully be out there till around the 13 of May. During this time I will have limited/slow internet access, if any. But I will soaking up information and experiences along with that tropical sun (with minimized UV exposure of course).

Stay tuned for more fun and thought-provoking posts once I return from Guna Yala. If you find yourself jonesing for some Kelly-original prose, feel free to check out the blog I kept while in Uganda.

The reason I am back in the city this week has less to do with the desire to wash my clothes with a machine and much more to do with the serendipitous opportunity of a lifetime (of my relatively short and inexperienced researcher’s lifetime). At the beginning of this week, two incredibly important people to my work arrived in Panama. This Thursday was the opening of an exhibit on Albinism in Guna Yala at the French Alliance of Panama. Featured was the work of photographer Rick Guidotti and the release of Pascale Jeambrun’s book, Les Enfants de la Lune, in Spanish. Rick Guidotti is a former fashion photographer and the founder of Positive Exposure, which works to promote the positive image of people with physical differences. (Check it out, it’s an incredibly beautiful and heart-warming organization). Pascale is a medical doctor and expert on albinism amongst Amerindians, especially among the Guna.

I had previously spoken to both these people before even coming to Panama, and they were incredibly supportive and enthusiastic about my work. Rick talked to me about his experiences and offered some contacts while Pascale shipped me copies of her work all the way from Paris, France. Ten years after coming to Guna Yala together to learn from and photograph Guna people, their first trip back just happened to be while I was here. Call it fate, luck, what have you, I’m pretty damn excited about this opportunity!

The art opening/book release was very successful, with more people cramming into the conference room than there were chairs. (If you are in Panama, the exhibit will be up in the Alianza Francesa building until May 3) But the real reason Rick and Pascale are back is to revisit Ustupu and to bring the photos back to those people who so warmly opened their hearts and homes to them 10 years ago.

On his first trip, Rick was told not to take his camera out; that the Guna did NOT like to be photographed. And it is true that in general it’s not acceptable to start taking photos of random Guna people (hence a lack of people in my photos from Guna Yala). How would you feel if a random foreigner came up to you while you were sitting on your porch and started snapping away? But as soon as Rick began showing his photos of people with albinism around the world, and explaining his desire to share their beauty, women began bringing their kids to him and children were lining up to be photographed! In his photos you can see the pride and the excitement of people wanting to share their life with the rest of the world; and it is a beautiful thing.

On this trip, Rick hopes to meet up with the people he met years ago as well as take more photos. I will continue my interviews and Pascale will look into the commonly-held notion that persons with albinism are born to Gunas with lighter skin. While I feel like an intern who has graciously been allowed to tag along, Rick and Pascale have treated me as nothing less than a colleague. They are both interested in my work and the more that Rick and I discuss our next steps it seems as though our work is melding together perfectly. He too wants to document the experiences of people with albinism living in Guna Yala as a way to show the world the acceptance and success that is possible for people with this condition. He keeps asking me how he can help with my work!  I guess I need to start considering myself a professional.

Our adventure begins tomorrow at 6am or possibly 10am, when we fly from Panama City to the island of Ustupu (Yes, even at this late hour the day before, we are not sure when the plane is leaving).  Rick will only be with us a few days before he travels on to Poland. Afterward, Pascale and I will make our way up the island chain back to Nargana. She returns to Panama City the 3rd of May and I hope to stay on in Nargana for 10 more days. While I don’t know how much research I will be able to do in Nargana, I plan to spend those 10 days just getting to know the community better and lending a helping hand where I can. While I could feasibly go in, get my information and peace out, I want to be able to say thank you to this group of people who have been so willing to help me with my work and to teach me about themselves.

Needless to say there are some exciting developments happening and I hope you will stay tuned to learn more!