We are who we become through our lives’ experiences and how we choose to react to them. In 2003, one of my daughters’ traumatic brain injury (TBI) turned our world upside down never to be the same. As a concerned photographer, the camera became my extended comfort. As she teetered between life and death, I recorded her journey and found solace photographing nature’s beauty. The yin-yang exemplified.
Suddenly, all the planning towards a career in documentary photography on
community-based tourism came to a screeching halt. And whilst my life is
consumed with the care of my daughter's ghost who lives with the effect
of frontal lobe TBI, imagery is my natural extension. A moment captured
on a still image has the power to connect in so many ways and arouse various
feelings, according to the viewer’s perception. A single image can
bring about a sense of peace, excitement, or even concern.
Life’s experiences through the 'school of hard-knocks' have deepened
my empathy for others and desire to raise awareness on social and environmental
causes through images. Yet, it is that same life that has called me to an
unrellenting daily caregiving duty that drives my humane growth.
I have grown beyond a survivor mode regardless and as a mother, a student
of life, a concerned photographer and a lover of cultural diversity. With
our symbiotic existence that is interdependent on the global environment
and cultures, images have the potential to raise awareness on important
issues and to build bridges of peace, compassion and understanding. NAMASTE.
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