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.
------------------

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 

Penticton Art Gallery Exhibition Listing Updated

Here is the updated exhibition details at the PENTICTON ART GALLERY. The photo they have in the link is NOT one I have printed yet. I need to find the negative and make the print up.

http://pentictonartgallery.com/exhibitions/2018/9/21/gerry-yaum-forgotten-laughter-children-of-the-dump
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Gerry Yaum | Forgotten Laughter: Children of the Dump

Friday, September 21, 2018 7:00 PM
Sunday, November 4, 2018 4:00 PM

On display in the Project Room
Gerry Yaum
Living in the Margins: Families of the Dump


"The Mae Sot Project" Artist Statement
"As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest."
Nelson Mandela
The Mae Sot Project ("Families of the Dump") documentary photography series was made at the Mae Sot, Thailand garbage dump. At the dump approximately 400 people in 50 plus family groups live and work scavenging for recyclable goods. The families are made up of Burmese refugees mostly from the Karen ethnic tribe; who travelled illegally from Burma into Thailand. In Burma these people face political persecution and economic hardship, they came to Thailand hoping for a better life.
I make my photographs in the dump and elsewhere for one reason, to tell the stories of forgotten people. It is important that their stories are told, with dignity and compassion. My goal is to show the common humanity we all share.

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.

Please help the children and families of the dump by donating to: http://www.eyestoburma.org/
Social documentary photographer Gerry Yaum seeks to tell the stories of forgotten and marginalised people. His deeply personal series My Father's Last Days documents the final months of his father's battle with pancreatic cancer. Through a sequence of poignant black and white portraits, Yaum endeavours to understand and capture his father's struggle and create a memorial to him.

www.gerryyaum.blogspot.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwkOovKSljM
https://vimeo.com/116513737

Possible Color Prints For Penticton

I counted 46 possible color pics I could send to Penticton. Might send up to 20 and they can select what works they want to show.

Color prints Penticton…

1) boy eating oranges
2) girl lost in thought
3) mother at 12 midnight on sofa
4) rat group photo
5) group working garbage
6) group behind truck
7) boys standing with moving garbage truck
8) girl and dog
9) garbage truck with workers
10) playing cards
11) mother and baby
12) family group in shack
13) family under candle light
14) wife and husband in shack
15) waing man
16) child in garbage with other workers
17) young girl orange shirt
18) girl alone at night in shack waiting
19) angle man alone in burmese skirt
20) baby girl alone
21) dancing
21) truck with workers #2
22) waiting workers group
23) waiting workers 3
24) group of workers boy in red
25) group of workers girls face
26) group of workers left, garbage truck right
27) father of the bride waiting at night
28) boys playing game
29) girls suckers foreground
30) child with sucker 1
31) held baby with sucker
32) child and mother in yellow
33) dump view #1
34) dump view #2
35) dump view #3
36) found meat
37) girl close up with hand
38) baby crawling
39) dump shack with tree on top
40) daughter-mother-father working
41) young brother showing young sister where to dig
42) family group eating supper with angry mother
43) young boy leaning back with new headlamp vertical
44) children in shack family workers in group behind
45) father holding daughter (shot looking up)
46) girl in chair

Bought Some MOAB Inkjet Photo Paper, Plus Some Dectol

Did up an other of inkjet photo paper, both MOAB Sliprock Metallic Pearl and Juniper Baryta as Kodak Dectol photo paper developer for the coming Penticton Art Gallery exhibition. I really like the feel of the glossy MOAB Sliprock Metallic Pearl paper, the Baryta stuff ain't bad either. The total was $443 USD including the shipping (FREE) and taxes. I now have two orders from B&H coming.

Hopefully these 2 orders will carry me through and allow me to finish printing the exhibition. I need to save some money for other things. Luckily making a bit of money back this time to pay for all the bills. I hope I will have some money left over to give back to the families as well (the artist talk fee for sure).

Note* Both of these inkjet papers are available in 17 inch by 50 foot rolls. I can print up to 17 inches in my Epson P800 printer.
Note** I  also found plastic protection sheets and a 20x24 inch shipping box I can use to ship the print to the gallery.
Update* Also bought some shipping cases and 2 rolls of 17 inch paper.

Quote: Gordon Parks (Photographer, Writer, Composer, Activist and Filmmaker)

"I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty. I could have just as easily picked up a knife or a gun, like many of my childhood friends did... most of whom were murdered or put in prison... but I chose not to go that way. I felt that I could somehow subdue these evils by doing something beautiful that people recognize me by, and thus make a whole different life for myself, which has proved to be so."

Organizing Negs And Working On My Presentation

Am preparing for the Penticton exhibition tonight. Doing my 3rd night in a row of organizing my negs (will probably need about 5 nights to complete the work) and also working on a PowerPoint presentation for my artist talks. I am looking through a number of PowerPoint how to books as well as a video tutorial I got from the library to complete my presentation.

Hopefully when I get all my negs organized I can find what I need to print this coming week off. I am kind of lazy when it comes to negative storage and naming, which leads to major problems when I have to print. The PowerPoint artist talk presentation will include an introduction, photos from the years 2013-2018 as well as a at least 3 video files. Want to make it about 1 hour long.

If I want to get the stories of the families told properly I need a high end presentation I can show. The goal is to present their story in venues world wide. Not sure I can do that, not sure if it is even possible, but sometimes you need to punch above your weight class.

Early form of the "Families of the Dump" Presentation

Obama Versus Trump

A shocking difference in intellect and character.

Quote: Albert Einstein

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."

Quote: Yoko Ono

"John's spirit in a way is still alive. In peoples hearts, and the statements he made, the music he made, you know, it's going around the world, so in a way. It's like, he's alive!"

Glen Constantine Ted Talk, NOWHERE PEOPLE-Stateless People

Well this is a bit intimidating, what a well spoken man Glen Constantine is. Mr. Constantine's photographic work  on the Rohingya's will also be hanging in the Penticton Art Gallery at same time the "Living on the Margins: Families of the Dump" photographs are being exhibited.

Please give Glen Constatine's 'Nowhere People-Stateless People" Ted Talk lecture a look see. He speaks from the heart and tells many personal stories, eloquent, oh so sad and beautifully done.

Note* Am not sure if he will be at the opening, or talk about his work and project. I hope so. It would be an honor to meet him.

Note** If I can do half as well as he does in my Penticton Art Gallery artist talk, I will be doing very well. 

Glen Constantine Ted Talk, NOWHERE PEOPLE-Stateless People

Glen Constantine doing his TED TALK on his project Nowhere People

Epson $500 Rebate Check

Some good news today after a 2 month wait. I got a rebate check from Epson for my printer, $500! I received $350 back for buying my new printer and another $150 for replacing my ancient Epson Stylus Pro 4000. Pretty good deal! Depositing the check tomorrow! This rebate check will get me another box of photo paper Ilford warm tone FB 16x20 or 20x24 paper for the Penticton show!!

My New Epson P800 Printer 

Printing After Work

This morning after last nights security guard night shift I went home and into the darkroom, where I printed for 2 hours. I need to get my best "Families of the Dump" negs made up by September 1. Having a world class social documentary photog like Greg Constantine in the same gallery at the same time as myself is very intimidating. I need to tell "Families of the Dump" in a strong and powerful way, the photos need to be able to stand up to Mr. Constantine's work with the Rohingya. Failing to tell the dump family story well is an injustice to all my friends in Mae Sot and to the Penticton Art Gallery. I need to get the most powerful negs printed to the best of my ability for this exhibition. If that means working in the dark after my night shifts and working 12 plus hour printing days on my days off for over a month, so be it! Gosh I better buy more photo paper!!!

Note* I might also try to do up some recent 11x14 or 16x20 color images for the exhibition as well, thou I am not sure just yet if that will happen.

Quotes: John Cassavetes (Director-Actor)

"As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail."

"When I started making films, I wanted to make Frank Capra pictures. But I've never been able to make anything but these crazy, tough pictures. You are what you are."

Dad And Mom In Happier Times

I bumped into this photo just now, mom and dad in happier times. It was made on April 16, 2013 during the opening night at an exhibition I had in the Kaasa Gallery here in Edmonton. Within two years my dad would be gone  from Pancreatic Cancer (February 22, 2015) and within 5 years mom would be sick with Dementia.

People spend time with your family when you can, things can change so fast! I remember after I took him home that night my dad who never said much complimentary about my efforts at photography. Told me that maybe it was a good thing that I made the photos for this show (on Klong Toey slum in Bangkok). I think he was proud of me.

I so wish I could go back to that night and spend more time with mom and dad, just sitting and talking.

Dad would probably hate the photo below, but he looks great to me!

Dad and mom enjoying some snacks at the opening

Bought Me Some Ilford Warmtone FB 16x20

Gosh photo paper is expensive. Just paid $302 USD (with tax and brokerage) for 50 sheets of Ilford 16x20 FB from B&H in New York. I plan on doing lots of printing over the next while. I tried to order 2 boxes but the online ordering system only allowed me 1 box.

B&H Site Link

Toni Onley Space, The Penticton Art Gallery

Paul C the curator at the Penticton Art Gallery has offered me the choice of 2 different spaces to show the "Families of the Dump" work. Here are some photos of one of  the "Toni Onley Space". The other is area that I could show the work is called the "Project Room". Am not sure which would be better, which one to choose. I asked Paul to give me the space with the best light and the most room which would allow me to show the most photographs, and tell the best story.

"Landscape Defined", 2016, in the Toni Onley Space At the Penticton Art Gallery

Toni Onley Space at the Art Gallery of Penticton