The Mercy Project -- Edited by James Whitlow Delano

I run an online Magazine with a few friends and each month we select a theme for the issue with some broad topic as Faith, The Environment, or Politics. The contributor is open to interpret the theme and word however they choose. Often the piece fits easily into the theme and mission of the magazine, but occasionally it tests the limits of that word’s meaning. Although words can clearly have a defined meaning as found in a dictionary, an individual’s reading is influenced by their life experiences. Thus is the case with the theme of James Whitlow Delano’s curated book The Mercy Project. This book contains a collection of photographs from 118 photographers who Delano asked to contribute one piece that made them think of “mercy.” The images range from Stuart Islett’s photograph of a Cambodian woman begging against the deportation of her son from the US (plate 033), to Don Bartletti’s image of migrant workers reaching through the opening of a train heading north from Veracruz, Mexico to grasp the offering of oranges from strangers (plate 032), to Simon Norfolk’s image of a young Liberian girl suffering from AIDS (plate 110), all contributing an image representing their subjective and personal concept of mercy.

from The Mercy Project

This word had deep-rooted meaning for Delano. When he first conceived of the book project, he had recently endured the loss of his sister Jeanne to a form of incurable cancer. Delano witnessed his sister’s care in hospice in San Diego, CA and was struck by how she was able to painlessly transition into her passing with the support of her extended family through palliative and hospice care. Delano’s book project is a vehicle to bring awareness to the important role of hospice for families and patients in need and to help raise funds in support of two organizations whose mission it is to provide such care.

from The Mercy Project

Although often a difficult task to design an anthology of this sort, the design firm de.Mo was able to create a elegant layout displaying large single images or 2 to 4 images per page spread. Whether the image is printed alone or in the company of similar photos, the text does not distract as the photographer’s name and plate number rests near the outer edge or gutter very much akin to magazine citations. The numbered plates also relate to the captions and artist’s bios, which accompany the hardcover book in a staple-bound leaflet inserted into the back flap. The plate listing tells the story of each image from the 118 contributors including Delano, Sara Terry, Jacob Aue Sobol, Michael Kenna, Ed Kashi, Nina Berman, Eikoh Hosoe, Mark Peterson, Daniel Traub, and Martin Parr, among many others. All texts are in English and Japanese, including writing by Delano, Melanie Light, and Eleanor Clift.

from The Mercy Project

In the postscript, Eleanor Clift speaks about the death of her husband with the assistance of this invaluable transitional care. She writes that he was able to pass “with the assurance that his pain would be controlled and that his dying would be treated with reverence and dignity through the gift of hospice.” The proceeds from this book and its moving images and words benefit San Diego Hospice and Institute for Palliative Care and Japan Hospice Palliative Care Foundation.

Purchase a copy of The Mercy Project here.

Read the other posts in this series here.

Cover of Homage: Remembering Chernobyl

 Jim Krantz has dedicated the profits from his newest book Homage: Remembering Chernobyl to supporting the mission of Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), the leading nongovernmental authority on world nuclear forces and an advocate for clean energy and the environment. Krantz's book is indeed a reverent look at a place that was a beloved homeland for many who have suffered so much. His journey into the book project was prompted by an anonymous “love letter” found in a drawer of an abandoned home near the epicenter of the contamination. He was moved by the passion displayed in the verses lamenting the tragic, forced and abrupt loss of the author’s homeland. This former inhabitant took the time to write what translates to a 110 line poem before abandoning his or her home, and leaving, as Krantz describes, so quickly that the dishes remained on the table. One of the sections of this ode reads:

Oh, our dear Chernobyl
The echo blast touched you 

Deserted stand your houses and buildings
We just had to leave you behind

Many did leave, but a few returned. The current inhabitants of Chernobyl are still battling the disastrous changes to their homeland. The population is sick from the nuclear poisoning and suffering from the lack of social structure that they had before the incident. As Scott Clearwater states in the accompanying essay Chernobyl: A Scientific Perspective, the amount of radiation that was received by over 200,000 people following the initial contamination can increase the chance of cancer by 5 new cases per 100 people. Radiation exposure is spread by wind, forest fires and even plants that are grown in the region and exported. The area will not be non-radioactive for generations. Clearwater describes in layman's terms what happened at reactor in 1986 and briefly goes into the consequences to the environment and health issues of those who did live and now reside near Chernobyl.

 Homage: Remembering Chernobyl by Jim Krantz

Homage: Remembering Chernobyl by Jim Krantz

In contrast to the inclusion of Clearwater’s factual account, Krantz selects other writers to convey the challenges of quotidian life and illustrate the contemporary culture of this Ukrainian city. In a brief phone conversation with Krantz, he noted that alcohol consumption in Russia is rampant and essayist and blogger John King’s personal struggles with the drug are used to illustrate this problem. King colorfully describes his journey through alcoholism – starting with imbibing the remains of mixed drinks at his parents 1950s cocktail parties to his later use of harder drugs and years of struggling to get control of his addictions. His story is personal, but highlights the struggles that many Russians currently or will imminently face.

Homage: Remembering Chernobyl by Jim Krantz

American born writer Askold Melnyczuk had taken inspiration for his three novels from his parents’ relocation from their Ukrainian birthplace, a dislocation they thought would be temporary. In Homage, he tells of the experience of accompanying his father to the grave of Melnyczuk junior’s paternal grandfather, a site the senior Melnyczuk had yet to visit because of his forced emigration many years earlier. His father was estranged from his family and home, seemingly not by choice but by distance. Melnyczuk’s brief bit of prose about his uncomfortable search to reconnect with the final resting place of his grandfather reflects what Krantz accomplishes with his photos, though Krantz works on a much wider scale: the residents of Chernobyl attempting to reconnect to the land that was lost. Krantz is able to capture the resilience and longing in their portraits.

The essays in Homage are informational, as in the case of Scott Clearwater and Henry L. Henderson of the NRDC, or personal, as with the essays of Melnyczuk and King. In contrast Krantz seems to only shoot what appears before his lens. His images are displayed in vibrant colors of peeling paint, an abandoned shoe, television, overcoats, or amusement park. The despair seen in some portraits is contrasted by smiles of children, adolescents and adults. Krantz’s images are not judgmental, but do not mistake the project as apolitical as he allows the texts to illustrate his message: The damage from the reactor is ongoing and by illuminating the legacy of this man-made pollution he hopes to help to prevent another “Chernobyl.”

All proceeds from the sale of this book and limited edition go to Natural Resource Defense Council. The book is available as softbound signed and a limited edition for $125 which comes with a choice of one of two prints which are shown below.

Split Melons, print choice for limited edition of Homage: Remembering Chernobyl

Overcoats, print choice for limited edition of Homage: Remembering Chernobyl

Purchase a copy of Homage here.

Read the other posts in this series here.

Recently, I have noticed an abundance of documentary photobooks published where once the books are sold, the proceeds are donated to a charity related to the photographic project. Over the next few weeks, I will focus on a few of these titles benefiting charities in locations such as Congo, Russia, United States, Japan and Cambodia among other locations and philanthropic causes such as hospice care, reconstruction after a natural or man-made disaster and the building of and funding for children's hospitals. For the first installment in this series, I am featuring Wyatt Gallery's Tent Life: Haiti.

Cover of Wyatt Gallery's Tent Life: Haiti

In March 2010, Wyatt Gallery and six other artists formed the Le Sét Collective and traveled to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, to volunteer with Healing Haiti and document the widespread devastation. The artists were amazed to discover an intense sense of hope and resilience, and, at times, joy among the people of Haiti. On September 20, 2010, Gallery returned to Haiti to continue photographing the massive tent cities that had emerged, creating the project and book Tent Life: Haiti to share his experience and help raise awareness and funding.

Wyatt Gallery's Tent Life: Haiti

Wyatt Gallery's Tent Life: Haiti

 Gallery is no stranger to natural disasters as he took on the task of documenting the tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004 and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. His first trade edition book Tent Life:Haiti begins with a introduction by Gallery; essay by Edwidge Danticat (former Port-au-Prince native and writer of the acclaimed Breath, Eyes, Memory); a resource guide to some relief organizations working in this area; a reading list for information on this part of the island and a brief history dating back to the landing of Columbus on Hispaniola in 1492 to January 2010 when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the country killing over 200,000 and displacing thousands to the makeshift refugee camps. The book has paper-wrapped boards, printed endpapers and over 60 four-color illustrations including many full page bleeds of the cityscape. The photographer's focus of the project and the book are primarily the portraits of the inhabitants of post-earthquake communities and their new tent "homes" which are set up in many locations around the country. As of today, many still reside in what was supposed to be temporary housing and, according to a Huffington Post piece published early in 2011, many still want for "basic services like healthcare, clean water, toilets, sanitation." There is an ongoing need for support and 100% of the book’s royalties go towards three organizations actively working in this country:  J/P Haitian Relief Organization, Healing Haiti, and the Global Syndicate.

Signed copies arriving in about 2-4 weeks. Purchase a copy of Tent Life here or follow the links included and donate to the charity of your choice. For more information on a charity's rating, visit Charity Watch or Charity Navigator.

Read the other posts in this series here.