Dem Uden CPR “The Paperless”
My second assignment with Morten Bo was photographing asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and others without a social security number. More than that, I tried to understand what their lives were like, I didn't just take pictures, I wanted to understand. I contacted Danish people who help these people; as such, the pictures are sorted into 3 pairs, a Dane and an immigrant, grouped so that the immigrant is with the Dane that got me in touch with them. The first Dane is a priest who has had a suspended prison sentence for helping illegal immigrants (more specifically, refugees). Meeting him was not only a grand and eyeopening experience, it was healthy to meet a person with such a strong and right mission in his life. (Gallery)
Tove Kurtzweil
With our guestteacher Tove Kurtzweil, we did 3 short projects in 3 days. I was a big fan of her way of teaching and I'm quite satisfied with these 3 short project. In common for all of them were that they had to be in black and white, and that we had to shoot with our gut feeling, no "overthinking" it.
Monday (Gallery):
The first day we were to go to a place that we felt like was ours or where we felt at home, and take a picture of it. Do something physical to it and take a second picture; finally we were to take a picture with ourselves in it. Oh, it had to be in black and white.
Tuesday (Gallery):
For the second day we had to bring something meaningful to us into school, where we were unsurprisingly told to take a picture with that item in it, telling a story that we want to tell about our item. I chose the watch my father gave me for my 18th birthday, I wear it almost everywhere and it means something special to me.
Wednesday (Gallery):
For the last day of assignment, we were each given an orange and were told to go take a picture of it, EXACTLY like we wanted...
På Plads “In Your Place”
The first project I did at Fatamorgana was "På Plads" which roughly translates into "In Your Place", in the sense that it's where you are and where you belong. It was an assignment centered around human relations. I chose the pictures I chose because they, to me, show different facets of interaction in different layers of society. Yes, they're overwhelmingly to do with Christianity, but that's also a very comprehensible form of human relations in just one person. (Gallery)
The Recent History of Bhutan
Everything is a process, what has shaped Bhutan has created the current Bhutan. While Bhutan is very peaceful today, the creation of the modern state takes root in 200 years of civil war, ending when the father of the first king consolidated the county through religion, diplomacy and the tip of a sword. After his death, his son was elected as the first hereditary ruler of Bhutan, giving rise to 40 years of isolation under two good monarchs. The third king then slowly opened up relations with India and small European nations while instituting reforms in areas such as agriculture and education, all under the notion of gross national happiness (GNH).
What I see as a cause for much turmoil and trouble in many developing nations that Bhutan managed to avoid, is a rush for rapid development with the western world as a goal. The way I see it, the fourth king wanted to develop the country more naturally, with a goal that was for the good of the people (GNH) instead or being for the good of the commercial sector, Bhutan doesn't have any vast natural resources anyway; in fact, Bhutan has had many of the same premises as Nepal and chose a different route.
Bhutan is covered in fields, mostly rice paddies, where the mountains will allow it and the citied are residential, shops and offices, Bhutan doesn't really have an industrial sector, instead products of that sector is generally imported. While most Western countries have industrial sectors, they are shrinking in relation to the service sector, as it appears, As a result of the direction set out by the king, Bhutan is trying to skip the destructive industrial sector and going straight to a service economy. Clever, if successful.
The fifth king, educated in England, has ruled since 2008 when his father abdicated for personal reasons and already, he has become immensely popular, being nicknamed "The People's King", he often travels the county meeting and talking to common people of all backgrounds. When the county was shook by an earthquake two years ago, the king spent one month in the damaged area helpig with and overseeing the repairs and listening to and responding the needs of affected.
While the country was once split into many small warring kingdoms, they have been united by a single family, a line of kings that have so far proven far more than equal to the tasl and have remained widely popular with the population, ensuring peace in this small mountain kingdom. While a peaceful history more often than not leads to a contented nation, this nation has very visibly overcome past differences; it is not a steadfast rule, Denmark has been at war with Sweden a total of 12 times, with 34 armed conflicts in total (meaning 22 smaller scale battles, not fully fledged wars).
The way I see it, part of what makes Bhutan the place it is, home of GNH, is the long span of peace that has suddenly arrived and the, so far, good and benign kings that have ruled in the interest and cause of the people.
The People of Bhutan
While Buddhism may be the soul, the embodiment of Bhutan are the Bhutanese, a handsome mountain people who appear to take pride in whatever they do, always walking with their back straight.
As mentioned previously, the Bhutanese are the friendliest and most forthcoming people I've ever meet, something I until coming here said of Malthesians. Farmers work diligently, plowing by ox, picking potatoes and rice by hand and cutting wheat by scythe, pausing only to look at the tourists. The towns are all filled with shops (all selling the same items, there's hardly any differentiation), lodging and restaurants, with the occasional bar; this is not a drinking country and tobacco is outlawed. There are no shady characters, or neighbourhoods I wouldn't walk in, and it's not that I've stayed to the main streets. Children run in the street playing games, people around talking on street corners and everywhere monks partake in everyday life.
Driving along the main road in Bhutan gets you through a lot of villages and towns. They are all basically the same, wooden houses, usually not heavily decorated (that's mainly religious buildings or houses of powerful people), but vert much of the same time, of course, most or these villages house farmers.
Unlike in the West, the elderly are seen with admiration, their words weighing heavily. Upon retiring in Bhutan, it's not uncommon for the elderly to assume monk like lifes of prayer and meditation (at least for the men).
We went on a two day hike with visits to two cities with holy places, elderly men were in charge and on several occasions we were visited by the man in the picture attached to this post, a village elder who walked around to where he was needee.
As religion plays a big role in Bhutan, so do the monks. In the countryside where families are often numerous, it's very common that at least one son becomes a monk.
For hard labour, constructing roads and buildings mostly (Bhutan is growing at a very rapid pace), the Bhutanese use Indian workers at a daily rate of ~€1,5. Despite being a developing country, the Bhutanese prefer tilling the fields by ox and tending the farms passed down through generations, family is very important and an ever present in life. Indian immigrant workers are present throughout the country, improving the county's infrastructure. There are two airports under construction and the main highway that I've been travelling along is being improved, expanded or both. On this particular day that I'm writing, we're spending 9 hours driving 250 km, the road changing between asphalt and dirt, following the curvature of the mountain, rising and falling dramatically.
But are the Bhutanese happy because of what Bhutan is, or is Bhutan so successful with gross national happiness (GNH) because of the people? Were the people always this content?
I'm merely an observer, but it seems that people take pride and joy in their work, they live in a very social world, not only together with their family, but always working in groups and living close together; they have a real sense of community. With little influence from Western culture, they still haven't been enthralled by our desires and empty wishes. As Maslow would put it, their basic desires have been met. They are well fed, their social connections are rock solid and they need not fear for their home and income; I've seen so starving, homeless, malnourished or poorly clothed people (in fact, everyone wears nice clothing, if not the fancy national dress). I haven't seen the entire country and occasioanlly you will see a small cluster of shanty houses, but they are far outside the cities, usually belonging to farmers.
Even for a people as homogenic as the Bhutanese, it's very hard to generalise and see the reasons as an observer who's in the country for a mere three weeks.
But I envy them, even though I try, I focus a lot on things and money. It's not that they don't matter here, on Bhutanese was impressed with my camera and some of them drive big cars (though only close to Thimpu). But these generic shops, I exchanged a good deal of money when I arrived, but after 9 days I've used ~$10 aside from hotels, food and transportation (which is included in the price of my tour with the Danish Scout Association); what did I buy? Postcards, a snack, some water, donations at holy sites and other such frivolties. Even for the locals, there's not much to buy, it's a prople driven by need, not greed.
