History And Artist Statement...FAMILIES OF THE DUMP... PAG Exhibition

A BRIEF HISTORY “Families of the Dump”

My social documentary photography project “Families of the Dump” dates back to 2013. In 2013 after viewing a CNN story on YouTube I learnt of Burmese refugee families who were living in a garbage dump in Mae Sot Thailand. I had been searching for an important very human story to tell. The families in the dump became for me that very important, life-changing story.

In the vicinity of the Mae Sot dump approximately 100 families who have escaped Burma (Myanmar) live and work. The people are mostly from the Mon and Karen ethic groups but there are also other groups in the population. They have escaped Burma for economic and or political reasons. Many families working the garbage in Mae Sot have experienced war and extensive human rights abuses. Life in the garbage is a better choice for them, a better option than where they came from. They can work everyday, make money and build better lives in Thailand at the dump than they could back home in Burma.

At the Mae Sot dump all types recyclable goods are of value, plastics, bottles, cardboard, metals etc. Everything is dug out of the waste and then resold to local buyers based on weight and quality. Everyday the people, sometimes-entire families including children and the elderly come out into the garbage to scavenge. Food is often taken out of the waste, raw meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts, foods of all types, everything of value is used.

The families either live in shacks directly on the garbage, or next to it. Many of the photographs in this presentation were made in the homes the people live in, sometimes up to 9 human beings in a single dump shack.

My first trip to Mae Sot and the dump of the families was in April/May 2013. I took a second trip in 2013, another in 2015, 2016 and a 6-month trip in 2017-2018. Over that time period I have visited the dump over 100 times. The work has been both photographic and donation in nature (please see end section for the donation work).

ARTIST STATEMENT

“The Families of the Dump”

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Children Of The Dump
Flies buzzing in the sunshine

      Garbage and long toil

Giggles with quick laughter
     Playing with barking dogs

Broken glass and sweet hugs
    Found food but lost school
Stomach worms and stinking waste
    Rats running with the rice

Yet new hope and new life

    Children of the dump

No one wants to live in garbage but fifty Burmese families call the Mae Sot Thailand municipal garbage dump home. They are refugees, both economic and political who have escaped the chaos and violence of Burma for the semi sanctuary of Thailand and the dump. The garbage provides a way for the people to earn a living; they can scavenge for recyclables in the waste and make a daily income. The dump gives them a way to protect and care for their families, it gives them hope and the possibility of a better future.

These photographs tell the stories of the families who work the Mae Sot garbage dump. I made the images with the hope of raising money and awareness. The money is then given back to the families in the form of goods, headlamps, food, rubber boots, hats, clothing, medicines, toys etc. Over the 5 years of the project I have made many friends, and learned from a distant culture and way of life that is so different than anything I have known in Canada. I have celebrated with the family members, spent time in their homes, ate with them, joked with them as well as cried. We have worked together making these photographs. Thank you for taking the time to view our pictures, and allowing us to tell you about the lives of the “Families of the Dump.”

Colour Digi Printing

I have spent the last 2 nights printing the colour "Families of the Dump" photos for the PAG exhibition. Doing things digitally you have so much control it becomes excruciatingly difficult. There are so many options it is hard to stop changing stuff and get a perfect image. When do you settle? Or do you keep changing things and changing things forever? (An old friend Jim A, told me that years ago).

I am learning so much and still at such a basic form of things, have so much to learn yet. Am using lightroom, photoshop, a Espson P-800 with Moab Slickrock Metalic Pearl photo paper.

The plan is to send 20-30 colour images to Penticton along with some previously printed older b/w darkroom photos and a few new silver gelatin prints. Will allow the gallery to chose what they like and exhibit the works. The most important thing for me is telling the stories of the families. This exhibition and the talk will allow me to do that.

I might also send the gallery a 10 - 11x14 print box set of colour images . The idea would be to sell the box of prints for $999 CAD and then donate all that money to the ""Families in the Dump".

New Found Dump Pictures

Here are some newly found dump pictures, from my PAG exhibition editing. Not sure if any of these will make the final cut but I do like them for various reasons

Workers in dump #2, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Sleeping baby in the dump, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Mom walking son home through the dump, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Dump child, Mae Sot Thailand 2017

Girl working the garbage, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Girl working the garbage #2, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Food seller in the dump, Mae Sot Thailand 2017

Man laying on the garbage waiting for next truck. Mae Sot Thailand 2018

The pregnant bride with her daughter, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Workers in dump #2, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Quote: Barack Obama

"Bobby Kennedy was one of my heroes. He was someone who showed us the power of acting on our ideals, the idea that any of us can be one of the “million different centers of energy and daring” that ultimately combine to change the world for the better."

New Poor Family In The Dump

Was editing this new family portrait from the dump last night at work.

The only light source for the image was a flash light I was holding at the camera position. This entire new family to the dump were sitting in a dirty shack (made out of dump waste) directly on top of the garbage in complete darkness. I still cannot get over how they lived, a family of 8 or 9 living like that. They slept and ate on a hill of garbage, with several other family groups.. What has happened to this family in the months since this picture was made on February 13, 2018? The lollipop-sucker the little boy is eating was donated by you all, I gave it to him just before the pic was made. They live such an incredibly difficult life, still think about them daily. We here in Canada have it so lucky. My toughest choice of the week is what type of all you can eat buffet I want to visit.

Am trying to get together 20-30 better images to print (next week) to 13x19 inches for the Penticton gallery exhibition. I am new to all of this digi stuff, so struggling my way through, digital printing, photo paper choices, Lightroom, Photoshop etc.

New dump family, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Weird And Wacky Dream!

Weird dream of the day. I dreamt I was swallowed by a large whale while wearing a scuba diving suit and I was waiting for someone to come and rescue me before I ran out of air and before the whales stomach acids devoured me.

Now where the hell did a dream like that come from?

New Dump Colour Photos

Been  editing digi for the coming exhibition at the PAG. Found these 7 images while doing that editing. Not sure I will send any of these pics to the Penticton Art Gallery, might try printing them to 13x19 and see how they look. Will probably pull back on the saturation, to mute the colours somewhat.

Young boy laying on garbage, Mae Sot Dump 2018

New man to the dump sitting in the garbage, Mae Sot Dump 2018

Another garbage truck arrives, Mae Sot Dump 2018

Family workers waiting for new garbage to be dumped, Mae Sot Dump 2018

Man smoking while he waits for the next garbage truck, Mae Sot Dump 2018

Young Burmese girl who speaks Thai waiting for in the garbage, Mae Sot Dump 2018

Mother smoking while breastfeeding in the dump, Mae Sot Thailand 2018.

Me, Me And Me, What's The Deal On Me?

One thing I find rather frustrating is that whenever I send out emails, do Facebook or other social media posts in relationship to "Families of the Dump",  people reply and do the ME thing over and over again.  Those who read my messages often compliment the fake Gerry Yaum dude. "Good for you!, Glad your having success!!, You have earned the praise your getting!, Great your getting exhibitions! etc.

Who the f-ck cares about me? It is not about f-cking Gerry (fake name) Yaum. In my messages about the families, I try to always use terms like them, we, our and talk in depth about their stories. I try to avoid the I, I , I thing. But when I get replies instead of we, our, them, it always goes back to Gerry. My social media friends most often always talking about me, not them, it's all about Gerry, how great Gerry is, f-ck that! This is especially prevalent in the people I have known the longest

I know people are just being polite, kind etc. I just get so tired of the I first thingy. The modern world is much to concerned with themselves, its not always about YOU!! or ME, think of the other guy/gal/child sometime! Put them first. Their stories matter most not yours or mine.

I think people have a hard time understanding that I do not make pictures as some sort of self promoting fantasy. Everyone of course likes credit but that is not a motivating factor for me. Getting compliments always makes my skin crawl a bit. That is one of the reasons I made up the Yaum name. I did not want credit, did not want my real name on a wall, it seemed wrong, exploitive some how.
I simply make pictures to tell the stories of the people I am photographing, they allow me into their lives, I try to tell their stories in pictures.That is all that should matter. Talk to me about them, not Gerry the photographer, who cares about that dude.

I have to incorporate this thought somehow into the beginning of my art talk, with out all the f-ck stuff :).

Quote: Anonymous Youtuber Comment

"Every accomplishment begins with a decision to try."

Quote: Alan Paton (Writer - Cry, The Beloved Country)

"For it is the dawn that has come, as it has come for a thousand centuries, never failing.

But when that dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why, that is secret."

Quote: John Lennon

"Being honest might not get you a lot of friends, but it will always get you the right ones."

Picked Me Up A Tripod Projection Screen

Got me an Elite 113 inch (diagonal) tripod projection screen today for $181.00 CAD with free shipping from Amazon. I should get the screen between August 23-30. The talk is on September 2nd, so it should work out. I did not want to pay that much, but thought it might be better to go large so I could see what presentation looks like bigger, and it should also be more enjoyable for the viewers (hope hope!)

Here is the screen I purchased.

Artist Talk With Shutterbugs

I am doing a practice artist talk with the Shutterbugs photography group on September 2nd at 2pm. This will be a small gathering of 10 or so people, I am hoping for 15. The plan is to practice my talk for the PAG (Penticton Art Gallery) and to show my PowerPoint presentation for the first time. The talk will take place at mom and dads home.

We plan on charging $5 a head, with 100% of the money going back to help the families in Mae Sot.

Here is an email I wrote to the wonderful organizer from Shutterbugs.
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K----...I just picked up a bigger projection screen on Amazon, plan to use it for other talks and maybe to watch movies on. The screen measures 113 inches on the diameter so pretty big (will arrive before August 30). I was looking at cheaper used screens on Kijiji but they were all 50 inches or smaller. I assume the screen in Penticton at their art gallery will be larger so I wanted to test the look of my presentation on a comparable larger type screen.

Can you please ask for 15 people to attend, not 10. Doubt we will get that many buy I think we can fit 15 into my mother and fathers open beam family room. It is a fairly large space. we should be able to get 15 into it if that many man Shutterbug folk are interested. The more the merrier :))) even if we only get 5 it will be fun.

I was thinking a set of rubber boots for the people in the dump cost around $6, so that if we get 15x$5 that would be like 12.5 pairs of boots for the families, not bad!

Gerry

Will Try To Sell Box Sets, To Help The Families

Am going to try to sell 5 print box sets of the recently shot "Families of the Dump" colour work. I pan on advertising the prints for sale on eBay for a low price of $500 USD plus shipping. If any of the boxes sell I will move the price up. All money will be given back to the families, via goods. If I could just sell 2 or 3 boxes I would have more than enough money to buy headlamps, rubber boots, medicines, food etc for the people at the dump.

Will see if any of the boxes are sold, if so I might raise box set prices to make more money to help the most needful dump folks.

I have to get me some nice boxes to put the photos in and round everything out as professionally as I can. Maybe a certificate of some, sign-name the prints without damaging them etc.

Here is the blurb I might use on eBay. 

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This box set of colour photographs is being sold to raise money to help the “Families of the Dump” in Mae Sot Thailand. The dump is inhabited by Burmese refugees who work the garbage to survive. I have been photographing their lives since 2013, these colour images were made in between January and March 2018. All moneys from the sale of the box sets will go towards buying things for the people the children you see in the photographs. Last year we raised $4300 CAD and donated headlamps, rubber boots, medicines, food, clothing, toys and candy(for the children). Please consider purchasing these limited set box prints. Your money will be used to help those in need.

The photographs were made by GERRY YAUM, a intentionally  exhibited social documentary photographer. For more details on this work please see the link below. Thank you for considering the photographs and if you buy thank you so much for helping the Families and the children of the dump.

http://gerryyaum.blogspot.com/search?q=families+of+the+dump

Gerry Yaum  (Canadian b.1964)

Families of the Dump, Box Set #1, Canada 2018, 
Archival Color 11x14 inch prints made on MOAB Slickrock Metalic Pearl Paper

5 Photographic Prints  per box set, each measuring 11x14
Signed and titled by the artist , Canada 2018
A Limited Edition - 1/25

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Update: Last night at dinner my friend Larry suggested that I take one of these box sets with me to Penticton as a sample. The idea would be to offer it for sale and to take orders. All moneys of course would go back to the families.

Printing Itty Bitty Photos!

Spent the night printing itty bitty 5x7 samples of some of my color work from the "Families of the Dump" series. I do not have anyway to calibrate my screen to my printer, might have to buy something for that. So I am simply playing around and seeing what I am getting by adjusting, colors, saturation and exposure. I am also re-editing some things to get a slightly different file to work with.

The idea is that I will eventually move up in print size to 8.5x11, 11x14 then the exhibition print size of 13x19. The 13x19 size should be fine for the show as the current image size of my b/w silver gelatin stuff is about 12x18 (on 16x20 paper).

I will send all my prints both b/w and color to the PAG (Penticton Art Gallery) the first week of September, so the can frame them for the September 21 opening. I think they should look good, am printing everything on MOAB, Slickrock Metallic Pearl Photo Paper.

MOAB SLICKROCK METALIC PEARL PHOTO PAPER FROM B&H

Facebook: New Family In The Dump Story

From Facebook:

Gerry Yaum

The photo is of a new family group to the dump. They arrived (Feb. 2018) about 1 month before I left. The family was made up of 8 or 9 members who slept in the little shack pictured, directly on top of the garbage. The group included multiple young children including the 4 young ones you can see in the photo.

I am editing a bunch of pictures with my new iMac at work, hope to print some of these pictures larger (13x19 or 17x?) next week. I might be able to get some of the color photos into the gallery in Penticton for the coming exhibition. I will at least get them into the artist talk PowerPoint presentation. I need to tell the story of this family to the gallery visitors.

The good part in all of this is that because of you all I was able to help this family more than most. Gave 2 members of the family each a 300 baht money donation (thanks S) and was able to give multiple, headlamps boots, rice, medicine, toys, etc. because of the bigger donations by you all, done earlier. The life of this family became a tiny bit better for at least a short time. We got to do what we can do. Everything done, even the small stuff, is a good thing.
I wonder what has happened to them in the 5 months since I left them for my easy life in Canada? Hopefully they have moved off the garbage to a cleaner environment in the surrounding area and now live in a better house.

But how many families have replaced them? How many families have no help at all?

Note* You can see the families work from the day-night in the photographs foreground, plastic bottles from the garbage dump.

New dump family with their days work

 Update (reply to a Facebook friend):

Gerry Yaum Thanks so much for your thoughts Mag. This family was amazing. I remember soon after they arrived the young children were learning how to work the garbage. The youngest family daughter and the youngest family son went out together. I went out and photographed them as they worked. The young boy was pointing out the good garbage to his slightly older sister. She had a quiet dignity to her as she worked. My biggest concern when I was there age was what kind of toys I was going to get for Christmas. Here is a photo of them working together...

Brother helping his sister work the garbage

Quote: Charles Manson

“You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody’s crazy.” 

Facebook: Photographer Yōsuke Yamahata

I just learned of this photographer today, Mr. Yosuke Yamahata. He paid for the important social documentary photography he did with his life. His work will live on and continue to tell the terrible story of Nagasaki and the thousands who died (39000 to 80000).

Yosuke Yamahata

I picked up this copy of his book "Nagasaki Journey: The Photographs of Yosuke Yamahata August 10, 1945" off Amazon for $22 CAD including free shipping.

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Yamahata+Y%C5%8Dsuke

"Nagasaki Journey: The Photographs of Yosuke Yamahata August 10, 1945"

From Facebook (Jack Wilgus):
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August 10, 1945 - Yōsuke Yamahata is an important documentary photographer that we all should remember. He was born in Singapore on August 6, 1917. Yōsuke Yamahata was a Japanese photographer best known for extensively photographing Nagasaki the day after it was bombed, August 10, 1945. His father, Shōgyoku Yamahata had a job there related to photography. Yōsuke went to Tokyo in 1925 and eventually attended Hosei University (Tokyo) but dropped out in 1936 to work for the Graphic Times Sun, a photographic company run by his father. From 1940, Yamahata worked as a military photographer in China and elsewhere in Asia outside Japan; he returned to Japan in 1942. Yamahata became violently ill in 1965, on his forty-eighth birthday and the twentieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the duodenum, probably caused by the residual effects of radiation received in Nagasaki in 1945. He is buried at Tama Cemetery, Tokyo.

Note: His photographs of Nagasaki were censored by the U.S. government to prevent distribution, until the restriction was lifted in 1952 and they appeared in “Life” magazine.

Working On PowerPoint Presentation

Am working on a PowerPoint presentation for my coming "Families of the Dump" artist talk at the Penticton Art Gallery. Got me a bunch of PowerPoint how to books from the library and am trying to get this done. Last night I was able to get my new projector going and project my partly completed presentation onto a large screen here at work in one of the conference rooms. It looked pretty good, lots of improvements need to be made yet. One of the benefits of my newly bought projector is I can see exactly what I am getting and make changes in advance of my actual talk in Penticton.

Having a PowerPoint presentation of my photographic work is something I have needed for several years now, it is good to be finally getting it done.

Part of the PP presentation for "Families of the Dump"

Facebook: New "Families Of The Dump" Photographs

Gerry Yaum

Been spending my work week (sometimes its good to be a guard) on my iMac. I am using Lightroom to edit a bunch of files from the "Families of the Dump" night series shot in early 2018. The opening at the Penticton Art Gallery is September 21 and I need to get all my loose prints shipped to them for framing by the first week of September. I wanted to include some of the new color in the package, stuff you folks here on Facebook saw earlier. I found a few more new photos that I might be including in the shipping package to the PAG. I will send both older b/w film work prints (16x20 - 20x24) done in 2013, 2015, 2016 as well as this new night digi color stuff (13x19 maybe larger).

For those that do not know these pictures were done in Mae Sot Thailand and document the lives of the families who work the garbage to survive.

More details plus daily blogs documenting these photos (January - March 2018) can be found on my 11 year photo diary blog. www.gerryyaum.blogspot.com

Jazz Promo Services- Dupree Bolton

This is kinda interesting. One of my blogs about my time in San Francisco with Dupree Bolton  has been posted on the Jazz site “Jazz Promo Services”

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/jazz-news/yaums-photo-diary-memory-flash-mr-dupree-bolton-3/

Quote : Keith Boycon (Political Commentar, Writer, Teacher)

"In Trump's World

Obama: Kenyan 

LeBron James: dumb 

Don Lemon: dumb 

Maxine Waters: low IQ 

Black countries: shitholes 

Black athletes: SOBs 

Black tenants: unwelcome 

Black workers: lazy 

Central Park 5: guilty 

Mexicans: rapists
Muslims: terrorists 

Indians: fake 

Nazis: very fine people."

Dream Number 2 Snakes, Slums And Tagalog

Had a strange second dream. I was in the Philippines, photographing in a slum and asking local children how to say words in Tagalog. I would write the words down and move on. Later in the dream I was in a swampy area near a river, stuck in the mud. I looked a bit to my left and in the near distance saw several  large snakes, cobras with their hoods open, they were hissing. I frantically tried to climb out of the knee deep muddy dirt that I was standing in, that I was stuck in, then I woke up.

A Dream About Dad ,He was Buying A Farm

Just woke up. I had a dream about dad. He took me on a tour of a farm near Athabaskan Alberta, told me he was going to buy it. In the dream dad knew he was going to die and wanted to fulfill his life long dream of owning a farm before he died. It was a beautiful place, isolated with many buildings on rolling cool winded hills. In the dream we quietly traveled those hills together, dad was happy, I was happy thou I did worry about sunburn :). After we wandered around a bit I found a place in the shade and felt the cool wind on my body, then I woke up.

I miss dad so much, 3 1/2 years after his death I dream of him often.

Video-Facebook: PAG Show Print

Am trying to print the neg of the image the PAG chose to put on their web advertisement. Figured I better make it since they chose it. Trying to make it warmer and more moody. This is attempt number 2, usually takes me print 5 to 8 to get it right.

The pic is of 2 sisters on the edge of the garbage dumpsite, where their families live and work. made in late 2015. Later on I photographed the older child after her head was shaved. Lice is a big problem in the dump,as are rats, cockroaches, wild dogs (bite sometimes)etc.


Tech stuff: 5x7 TRI-X neg shot on a Linhof with 120mm lens. Ilford Warmtone FB 16x20, Dectol 1/1 3 minutes, Durst 8x10 colour head enlarger. Basic exposure 25 seconds f5.6 Magenta 15 with a dodge of -7 seconds to top girls face and -12 seconds on their hands. Burn shirt with mask +10 seconds burn each edge +10 second with card. The next attempt will go to f8 and a basic exposure if 45 seconds.

The scanned image on the PAG website

Epic Long Sleep!

Had one of my epic long sleeps today, The rain was falling with a cool wind coming from an open window behind me, perfect sleeping conditions. I slept long and sweet and woke up without a headache. Went to bed around 2am finally woke up about 620pm , that’s over 16 hours of snoring. Still feel a bit groggy, yawning, might take a nap!

Update* My new Viewsonic projector and carrying bag arrived early this morning (2 day shipping). Am still waiting on the cords and cables I will need to attach it to my MacBook Pro. Plan to take it to my security night shifts this week, so that I can work on my PowerPoint presentation. I will be working an extra shift this week, 8-12 hour shifts instead of my regular 7.

Update** Gosh Just took a 2 1/2 hour nap, now I do have a tiny bit of a headache! Better get into the dark now and work on a print, security calls tomorrow night.

B&H Photo Replaces Damaged Box Of Paper

I received my 50 sheet box of Ilford Warmtone FB yesterday, the outer shipping box and the inner Ilford box were both damaged. 3 of the 4 tapes of the Ilford box were open and the lid was dislodged from the box of paper when I removed it from the shipping box. I sealed the box quickly (not sure that matters) and took photos of everything. I sent an email to B&H explaining the issue. They responded the next day multiple times and have already shipped me a replacement box. A GREAT COMPANY! Ilford 16x20 FB Warmtone paper runs at $302 USD (including the taxes etc) and they replaced it without a hassle.

I now have the FREE box that was damaged in my darkroom that might be partially exposed that I still might be able to use to make fine prints and if not I can use it for making printing masks.

Got to love that. I should now have enough paper to complete my printing for the Penticton Art Gallery PAG exhibition.

Note* I highly recommend photographers buy from B&H, great prices, great selection and great service! How do you beat that? There is also free shipping to Canada on orders over $99 USD.

Many Buys For The Penticton Art Gallery PAG Exhibition

Over the last several days I have bought many items for the coming PAG show and artist talk. Having exhibitions are important, they allow you to tell your stories to larger audiences but they are also very expensive to produce. Here is a list of the rent buys.

1) A box of 16x20 Ilford Warmtonte FB Paper (arrived today in damaged box, asked for a replacement).

2) Multiple sizes from 5x7 to 17 inch wide MOAB metallic Pearl and Juniper Baryta paper.

3) Viewsonic projector (testing and working on the PowerPoint presentation)

4) Laser Pointers

5) Plastic print protection envelopes in 13x19; 16x20 and 20x24.

6) Black print shipping cases in 16x20 and 20x24

Nnte* Will have to buy more ink for the P-800 soon, making the large colour prints I plan to make costs lots of ink, will soon use up what I have.

Bought Me A Viewsonic Projector

Decided after some advice from my friend Larry last night to go ahead and buy myself a projector. I hope to be able to use it multiple times, doing many talks.

Here is the unit I chose, I paid a little more for the higher quality Veiwsonic PA403W model, the WXGA. I think it should be OK. Plenty of projector units of different types available used on Kijiji but felt going with brand new in this case was the best option. Brighter lamps, better resolution etc. seems to come from the newer model machines. This unit should be a decent quality purchase that I can use for at least 5-10 years.

Amazon.ca Link To My New Viewsonic Projector

Update* Also picked up a bag for the projector and the necessary cable, adapter to connect it to my MacBook pro (I think!). Just need to finish off my PowerPoint presentation and get me a used stand alone screen of some kind. The cost for all this projection stuff was around $580 CAD.

ViewSonic PA503W 3600 WXGA HDMI Projector

More Money From The Gallery

When you move up in weight class to higher level galleries they provide you with lots of extras. It is quite wonderful especially when your living off of a guards salary. Some of the bonuses include

- $1000 artist fee (my highest paid fee).
- $150 artists talk Honorarium (my second highest)
- 3 nights at a hotel
- gas money
- framing, if needed
- shipping costs, if needed
- money for a hotel and gas costs if I go back and pick up the prints (if they are not shipped)

Plus all the press releases, advertising in arts magazines etc.

The only other gallery exhibition that I have ever been apart of that does near this many things for the artist is the Art Gallery of St. Albert dad show of 2017.

Wonder what happens, what bonuses there are when you start getting shows at major galleries like the Vancouver Art Gallery or the Art Gallery of Alberta etc. To be able to show in places like those and get your stories seen by large groups of people would be so highly rewarding. With more money coming to the artist you would  be able to do so much more donation work to help your subjects. Hopefully someday in the not so distant future will learn that stuff first hand.

Mom Doing Better

My moms stay in hospital has helped her. I went to visit her yesterday and she is doing much better. They seem to have figured out her medication situation and are getting her to do lots of activities, colouing, games, movies, music performances church visits etc. Before mom was doing none of that now she seems much better.  She is still suffering from dementia but is much more manageable now. Yesterday I had a long normal conversation with her, it was WONDERFUL!

I will go visit her again on Friday and will also speak to her social worker. I believe they will release her back home on August 29th. There will be homecare provided of some kind, also we will arrange for her to go to do activities at the nearby elder center. I think the more mom interacts with people the better.

I hope her condition does not deteriorate to much when she returns home. The doctor told me that happens fairly often with patients in their care. In the hospital they do well, at home not as well.

Facebook: About The PhotoEd Story

Gerry Yaum

10 mins ·

Guess this photo made it into the PhotoEd magazines Digital Edition readers gallery. Wish I could for once get into the hard cover version of a magazine but still a good thingy I guess. More people will here about the "Families Story"...that is always a positive
Here is the picture they chose, will try to make the PhotoEd people a better edit of the photo. It was shot in very low light. The pic is of a new family in the dump who lived directly on the garbage. Always felt the young daughter was seeing her own future as she looked at her mother who is in the shadows smoking. The younger children sleep between them.
Tech sturf....10000 ASA Canon 5D Mark 3 with a 24mm-105mm (image stabilizer) around 1/4 at F 5.6 or F8, using a tripod. Forget if I was providing some of the light with flashlights from the camera position, might have been.
The "HUMANITARIAN by day" thingy in their caption makes me feel rather uneasy. A humanitarian is a doctor who helps tens of thousands in a war zone with 'Doctors without Borders'. I am just some middle aged dude who handed out a few headlamps and rubber boots, not quite the same thing. Luckily Yaum ain't my real name  

 

Photo ED Magazine

Got news that PhotoEd magazine is going to post one of the dump photos in their upcoming Digital Edition Readers Gallery. I attached the filed they need.

Here is there email.

-------------------------------

Hi Gerry, 

PhotoED Magazine would love to include your work in our upcoming Digital Edition Readers Gallery! 

Please find attached a screenshot of the selected image as well as a sample caption. Let me know if you would like the caption tweaked, if you would like to provide a new one, and any social media links you would like included. In addition, please send along a 4X6'' HI-RES copy of the selected image to photoeddigital@..,..... no later than Friday, August 3rd. 

Best, 

N----- -----

----- -------

Update* Here is the version of the file I sent them:

A new edit of the file, "Daughter watching her mother in the dump, Mae Sot Thailand 2018

Facebook: Post About The Penticton Exhibition

Gerry Yaum

Just now ·

An updated picture and info about the "Families of the Dump" exhibition at the Penticton Art Gallery. Communicating with the folks at the gallery now getting all the logistics worked out. This is a step up in gallery class for me, more money all round which makes the task a lot easier, especially on a security guards pay.
I am trying to figure out how much I can give back to the families. everything is so expensive, spent over $1500 on various printing supplies in the last few days. I intend to at least give the speaking honorarium back to the families, that is $150, hopefully can do more. I might be doing a back to back talk (45minutes each) with Greg C the world level photographer and Ted Talk person who is also being exhibited. That is a bit intimidating. I feel like I am an average welterweight in the ring with a hungry George Forman. Will so my best, cannot do better than that.

In the new updated Penticton Art Gallery listing they included my lousy poem in the intro to the show. If your interested in visiting the gallery and seeing the exhibition, there is more info n the link
Here are the details and the poem...

Children Of The Dump
Flies buzzing in the sunshine
Garbage and long toil
Giggles with quick laughter
Playing with barking dogs
Broken glass and sweet hugs
Found food but lost school
Stomach worms and stinking waste
Rats running with the rice
Yet new hope and new life
Children of the dump.

http://pentictonartgallery.com/exhibitions/2018/9/21/gerry-yaum-forgotten-laughter-children-of-the-dump