A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush – Photostories by Jason Florio & Helen Jones

Planting the seeds…………..

Where: The Gambia, West Africa

When: November-December 2009

What: To circumnavigate The Gambia, West Africa, by foot from the ‘Gardens for Life’ project  in the Western Division of the country and returning there approximately 8 weeks later – in time to celebrate New Years Eve at Makasutu Culture Forest!  www.makasutu.com

Why: A Twofold Expedition:-

• An Anglo/Gambian journey to preserve, through photographic and audio means, a modern account of the people and stories of rural Gambia. This collection of pictures and words  will lay the foundations for a unique multi-media interactive website to be used as an ongoing tool to conserve these oral histories and current observations of life in The Gambia by Gambians. The photographs  taken along the way will also be used to produce a, first of its kind, fine art coffee-table book of The Gambia.

•‘Gardens For Life’ (an Eden Project) charity, which help to educate, support and encourage schools and children around the world on how to create gardens and grow their own food. There are 5 schools involved in the project in The Gambia to-date. The walk will be a fund-raising tool for the charity and the Gambian schools, through sponsorship and donations.
http://www.edenproject.com/our-work/people/gardens-for-life/index.php

Who: Jason Florio, Helen Jones, Abdouli Janneh, Nohammed Njie

A little bit about the team members:

Jason Florio, British, FRGS (Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society), is a professional photojournalist who has dedicated at least one month a year for the  past thirteen years to photographing the people who live and work around a sacred forest in The Gambia. The  resulting book –‘Makasutu – mecca in the forest’ was published this year to coincide with two New York  exhibitions of the work. He recently received a ‘Spotlight’ award for these images from Black and White  magazine.

His passion and fascination  for the people and culture of  The Gambia has grown with each visit. So when he and Jones came up with the idea of further immersing themselves into the country by an on-foot expedition, it seemed like the most natural progression from his work at Makasutu.

His assignments for publications including Sunday Times Travel, The New York Times, Men’s Journal, Outside and National Geographic Adventure have taken him around the globe from Afghanistan to Surinam, predominantly on human-interest stories that  attempt to reveal the unseen and give alternative points of view to people and places. Florio lives between NYC and London. Please view his work atwww.floriophoto.com

Helen Jones: Her passion for the poor but extremely culturally-rich country of The Gambia started around 14  years ago and has seen her return, annually ever since. She once spent 4 months there studying natural  nutrition. In 2008 she worked with Florio there for 6 weeks as producer and assistant on the portraits of his recent  book ‘Makasutu – mecca in  the forest’. They also spent time travelling around the villages of The Gambia to  document  the traditional male and female ‘Coming of Age Ceremonies’.   Jones, British, is a practicing massage therapist and nutrition advisor, living between the UK and NYC.  She previously worked extensively in the music industry, mainly in events co-ordination and artist management. She has been using her organizational and management  skills, working as a producer  on various photography assignments in the US, Mexico and West Africa.

Abdouli Janneh, a Gambian local, has been working at  Makasutu Culture Forest for 5 years in guest  liaison. His previous experience includes military service and teaching English as a foreign  language  to Gambian students. He is from the Jola tribe and speaks fluent English, Jola, Mandinka and Wolof (Mandinka being the most widely used languages in the country). He will be integral to the expedition  not only as a fixer and translator in  the more rural areas but as he is a local, his input will be  invaluable in helping both Jason and Helen fully understand the culture of the country and in  translating the oral histories that they will collect on the way.

Mohammed Njie – a Gambian local, has followed in his fathers footsteps, working at Makasutu  Culture Forest for over 3 years as a guide and as a security officer. He too is a Jola, speaking  English, jola and Mandinka. He will also be an integral team member,  especially with his skills as a  guide.

Logo: kindly constructed by Lawrence Williams, Makasutu Culture Forest, The Gambia