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I spent April 2015 working with Cheshire Homes Swaziland, a rehabilitation centre for adults and children with disability, to develop a video that would raise both awareness about the work they do and hopefully funding with which to carry on that work.
I had the privilege of getting to know the patients and staff, a group of truly inspiring individuals. I encourage you to take ten minutes to watch this video, feel alive and spread the word. A white rondavel. Part of my Swaziland Now! exhibition piece - "Indzawo Lenkhulu Lene Makhona Lamancane Lamanengi", or 'A Big Place With Many Small Corners'  ArtReach is a non-profit organisation working towards the development of the arts in Swaziland, and the lack of overall arts education and creative opportunities. By providing a platform for expression and learning through creativity and the arts, ArtReach aims to particularly address the personal and social issues faced by youth and other marginalized groups in Swaziland. I was fortunate enough to get invited along to one of the Yebo! Artreach mural projects with the hope of applying some azulejo (tiles) techniques. We spent two days painting four walls surrounding a butchery in Lobamba, Swaziland. The butchery resembled a prison to begin with so the colour explosion we left behind was a pretty dramatic change. Hordes of children leaving school also presented me with the opportunity to whip up an impromptu stencil workshop, with varying results but certainly enjoyment all round. I'd like to think that this kind of intervention is given the attention it deserves when it comes to aid budgets. If only the arts, or creative expression, were seen as a priority in the "development" sector. Yebo! are doing a fantastic job and from small acorns grow big oak trees. Big, bright blue and pink ones... "'Indzawo Lenkhulu Lene Makhona Lamancane Lamanengi", or 'A Big Place With Many Small Corners' - a piece I did for the Swaziland Now! exhibition run by Yebo Contemporary Art Gallery in Swaziland.  The concept was an artist's representation of their vision of Swaziland. Using my new azulejoart approach, I created a composite piece of 11 "tiles", each themselves made up of single images captured along the road, out in the country and around town in Swaziland. Here's a quick visual overview of the journey... The rusty entrance to a neighbour's house. Part of my Swaziland Now! exhibition piece - "Indzawo Lenkhulu Lene Makhona Lamancane Lamanengi", or 'A Big Place With Many Small Corners'  A bus stop (or waiting room) on the old Mbabane bypass road. Part of my Swaziland Now! exhibition piece - "Indzawo Lenkhulu Lene Makhona Lamancane Lamanengi", or 'A Big Place With Many Small Corners'  The entrance to Somhlolo stadium, home to Swaziland's national football team, Sihlangu. Part of my Swaziland Now! exhibition piece - "Indzawo Lenkhulu Lene Makhona Lamancane Lamanengi", or 'A Big Place With Many Small Corners'  A cable reel table. Part of my Swaziland Now! exhibition piece - "Indzawo Lenkhulu Lene Makhona Lamancane Lamanengi", or 'A Big Place With Many Small Corners' 
Promo video created for Quazi Design, Swaziland - a cutting edge crafts company that uses waste magazines and paper to create jewellery and accessories. The "cutting edge" part must have been intended as a pun but shouldn't detract from the fact that they really do create some outstanding design pieces from waste material - a medium often associated with bottle-top earrings and plastic bag mini-skirts.
The difference is in the design and hence the video we put together to show off a few of the key elements to a company that works to balance innovative, attractive and commercially-viable design with providing sustainable incomes and skill sets for Swazi women. I remember reading somewhere that the quality of a photographer is judged by how much they throw away. I was doomed. So over the years, I've been honing my discipline with regards to deleting photos. However, in one of these culling sessions I came across a photo that should have ceased to exist years ago. Fortunately it didn't and after playing around with it for a while I came up with an image I'm now pretty fond of. What a great lesson not only in why there's sometimes a good reason for holding on to things, but also in portraiture.  Why does my face hurt? When taking photos for a mountain bike challenge, one rider came off his bike in front of me. With no way to assess the damage, he asked me to take a photo of him so he could look at himself on the camera.
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