Not on the Skies

“And once this had brought a pang to me,
a sense of pain in my heart to see
The leafless trees and the stubble sear,
and the darkening faces of a dying year.

It is not so now. My heart is glad,
tho’ every sight and sound is sad,
For I have come to realize
that joy depends not on the skies.”

— from Clear Skies by Maltbie Davenport Babcock

This past August, after a five year absence, I was able to return to South Sudan with my friends from Seed Effect. It was a special experience because when I first arrived in November of 2009, Seed Effect had yet to distribute a loan & in the years since a massive forest of hope had sprung up throughout Kajo Keji.

On the surface, not much had changed... but press in just a little & you could see the tangible difference Seed Effect had made on the area. 

I was blown away, actually.

Anniversaries are cool & this month marks the 5th anniversary of the first Seed Effect loan. Wow.

To help celebrate, I've worked on a few new films while I was with Seed Effect this summer & those will premier on Thursday, November 13th at their #SETurns5 Event. Also, I'll be joining fellow photographer Andrew Slaton in a two-man photography show that opens that evening. 

A storm gathers over the South Sudanese boma of Kajo Keji.

On two different evenings, Andrew & I stood together marveling at the power of the storms that swept across the South Sudanese skies (one of those is pictured above). Those two storms really informed the way I framed curating my contributions to this show. I'm incredibly excited about this new body of work & I hope you'll come out to see the show in person.

Here are the details:

Thursday, November 13th, 6 — 9 PM at The Laundry (1818 Chestnut St. Dallas, TX)

Register for the event ($19, which goes directly to the work Seed Effect is doing in South Sudan) by clicking here. 

I genuinely hope to see you there.