Among the many photographers whose projects are being sponsored by the Blue Earth Alliance this year is Subhankar Banerjee, who is currently working in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Banarjee, a freelance photographer specializing in wildlife, environmental and cultural photography, will document the year-round biodiversity of the refuge and its two indigenous cultures, the Gwichi’in Athabascan Indians and the Inupiat Eskimos. The project is designed to create a conservation book in collaboration with natural history and cultural writers.
Anna Mia Davidson’s latest effort is called “Beyond The Cliche: The Positive Influences from the Cuban Revolution.” The vision for the project is to photographically narrate an educational documentary describing the vestiges of what has been beneficial under Fidel Castro’s rule. Davidson developed an interest in Central American cultures in 1994, when she was a solidarity worker in postwar El Salvador.
In “The Delta Bluesmen,” Gail Mooney is seeking to record the cultural impact of blues musicians and their place in history. Recently, efforts have been made in schools to teach African American youths this music form and the story of the culture it portrays. The final project will also incorporate film and video.
Omar Attum has traveled to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where he is examining the vanishing conservation ethic that allowed the Bedouins to thrive in the desert for thousands of years. The project addresses the Sinai’s environmental and cultural issues by incorporating conservation work, research and photography. Local Bedouins are assisting by working with endangered species such as the Egyptian tortoise and the Nubian ibex.
Marie-Rose Phan Le is producing a television documentary series intended to serve as an archive about the lives, rituals and wisdom of traditional healers from diverse world cultures. The “Healing Planet” team has traveled to Hawaii, Peru, Nepal, Northern India, Vietnam and China, meeting with dozens of healers and shooting more than 100 hours of footage. The initial goal of the series is to produce six one-hour episodes over a one-year period.