published/in print! (independently)

A few months back I wrote a foreword for an artist friend's photobook. :>

here it is in print!! (including some snapshots, taken by artist)

'Hope as the highest human emotion.'

(did I just put myself in quotation marks)
(I'm sure someone somewhere has said that before but -
I googled it and nothing came up)

<transcription of write-up>

Hope as the highest human emotion.

Prologue by Cara Chiang

'God is good', a young mother living in Kuna Nega said as we handed her a bag of groceries. I recall the first time we went into the slums to distribute sundries. Though we expected not to be able to relate to the people, interacting with them made us realize that their stories were essentially human stories - which made them inherently relatable.

This series of photographs taken in Panama are a collection of otherworldly reminders of people in actual circumstances, living in the ruins and slums. Sara Kim ambitiously captures the histories of places made human by the word ‘home’, documenting the cultures that have been created - of making a home out of what you have. She does this through her unique brand of storytelling, using images of fallen leaves, dim skies, and fleeting light sources as details that transcend space and time and support her raw, people-oriented message.

Panama Ruins is split into three chapters with three distinct styles. The first chapter, Curundú, also known as the projects of Panama City, contains photos taken within the first few weeks of arrival. The reader is taken into the lens of the artist, first as an observer of a new realm in a foreign land. The second chapter, Ngäbe-Buglé, contains photos taken in the second half of the trip. The Ngäbe tribe are residents of the islands of Bastimentos, and form the principal subject of the chapter. These photos are intimate, as the artist gets up close and personal with her subjects. A sense of timelessness starts to pervade the artistic landscape. Each photo tells its own story, each a separate dream. In the final chapter, Bocas Del Toro, taken mostly in the slum areas of the island of the same name, the artist uses ethereal and unedited shots of the heavens, glowing portraits, and nature - a stark contrast from the beginning images of a developing, industrial cityscape. These observations are self reflective, and invite the reader into the same state of mind, to think back on earlier pictures, while simultaneously taking in new terrains. The beauty and imperfections of humanity are captured through a sense of wonder in a place, still marked with human hopes and dreams - the faith of something greater, just beyond the horizon of reality.

I recall asking one particular mother living in the slums, who had insisted on praying for all of us one by one, a question of faith: Why do you believe in God?

She replied: Without God, where would the good things come from?

<end>

-

it's gonna be sold on her website, which is still under construction but when it's up I'll put it here.

<EDIT> it's on sale here! Fresh from hardback print in palm tree central Los Angeles. </EDIT>

It's all Yashica medium format film pictures of our adventures and perspective as 'outsiders' in the slums and tribes of Panama City.

Can't wait to get my hands on a hard copy :')

(is it me or does that sound dirty...)
(I think it is me)

Is this my calling?!? lol
whatever it is, it's a start :)

it seems when I attribute good things to God, more good things do come my way.

GOOD VIBES TO ALL

peace.

Cara