It’s time to celebrate the many wonderful, beautiful and varied achievements and challenges of women in our world today.

This year’s International Women’s Day (March 8th) remembers the significant Beijing roadmap signed 20 years ago that set the agenda for 189 governments in realizing’ women’s rights. The theme of this year’s event is to remember the hurdles that have been surmounted but to recognise those that lie ahead, with the idea of imagining what an equitable world might be for women. The theme therefore is “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!”

And with that in mind here are some images to inspire and uplift you of what women do around the world in their role as mothers, workers, creative artists, sisters and carers, but also to challenge us that women’s rights and gender equality still need our attention and that we should all seek for a world where women and girls have the choice of being involved in politics, being educated, generating an income and living a life free of violence or discrimination.

Note: Some of these images were taken by women in my Cameras for Asia classes and included in order to recognise and celebrate their talents. To see more images of women in my database go to this link.

For facts and details about the struggle of women around the world here are some great links:
UN factsheet about International Women’s Day with critical areas of concern
Infographic about women’s literacy and education

A woman working at one of the brick factories in the Kathmandu Valley.

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One more sleep and I’m headed to Myanmar!!

This will be the first of my Cameras for Asia programs this year. I’m really excited to return to the country – my fifth visit – and see old friends and faces, plus kids I’ve got to know since 2009, but … I’m also going to some different centres this year and will travel further afield than Yangon. I’ve travelled a lot of Myanmar but this is the first time I’m taking the program outside Yangon. That in itself is exciting!

While it’s been wonderful to see Yangon bloom over the past five years and the interest in photography skyrocket, Cameras for Asia was designed at a grassroots level and so it will be good to break some new ground in this regard and get the program and equipment to regional areas where the need remains high.

I may not have time to post to the blog but I will be posting on Instagram while I’m away to @camerasforasia and @visitedplanet both of which will appear in the Facebook feeds of Cameras for Asia and Visited Planet photojournalism respectively.

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If you looked at images of Brisbane from over a hundred years ago do you think you would recognise your city? I admit I was thrown a bit at first by the photographic collection of Alfred Elliott currently showing at the Museum of Brisbane with images of Brisbane from 1890-1940.

All that grainy black and white of a city in its infancy, of trams, men in hats smoking pipes, women in lacy frocks and Aboriginal people fishing in the river felt vaguely like looking at a movie set but also oddly appealing at the same time. There wasn’t all today’s development — no bridges, no TV towers and no skyscrapers — and it was fun recognising the bends in the river, the heights of Mt Coot-tha, the cliffs of Kangaroo Points, and the long Milton Reach past a grassy area that is today my suburb of Auchenflower.

It felt and looked a bit like Brisbane but not one I was familiar with. And it was fascinating.

If you have ever wondered what history lurks in the bends of the river, under the pavements of city hall, or on the slopes of Mt Coot-tha get along to the Museum of Brisbane at City Hall. The exhibition is titled “The view from here” and open from February  13 – August 30 (daily 10am-5pm). Admission is free.

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Some of you may have decided to give up wine, television, chocolate or sugar this Lenten season. Whatever you’re doing, if you do follow Lent, you recognise that the 40 days are a journey. That’s the theme I elected when asked to submit artwork as part of Visionaries for the “Lent to Easter” exhibition currently on display at the wonderful Vera Wade Gallery in Brisbane City.

I put in two pieces – “The Beauty of Suffering” featuring some of the heights, lows, mountains, deep waters and rough tracks of New Zealand and “The Bridge of Reconciliation” showing the crossing of a rickety teak bridge in Myanmar.

The Beauty of Suffering – walking into Middle Earth, Milford Sound, New Zealand.

The Bridge of Reconciliation – Sunset on the U Bein bridge near Mandalay, Burma/Myanmar.

Vera Wade Gallery
Saint Andrew’s Church (gallery is downstairs)
Cnr Creek and Ann Street (entry is via Ann Street), Brisbane
Free admission
Open 11-2pm Monday to Friday

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