Edward Morgan
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When we laugh together...

2/5/2016

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Project leader and clown, Annabel Morgan, talks about the huge variety of different audiences the clowns performed to.
Project Ekta, India 2015
http://clownswithoutborders.org.uk/
Video by Edward Morgan
Soundtrack: "Movin' On Up" by Poddington Bear
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It's a privilege

16/4/2016

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Dan Lees talks about his experience on his first Clowns Without Borders tour.
Project Ekta, India 2015
http://clownswithoutborders.org.uk/
Video by Edward Morgan
Soundtrack: "Movin' On Up" by Poddington Bear
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"You see them become children again"

16/4/2016

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Marion Duggan talks about how the children respond to seeing "silly adults" and how that one hour of clowning allows them to temporarily forget the struggles in their lives.
Project Ekta, India 2015
Video: Edward Morgan
Audio: "Movin' On Up" by Poddinton Bear
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2015 - a visual roundup

30/12/2015

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2015 has taken me from Lesotho to Nepal and from clowns to Eurozone crises, so, as much for myself as for anyone else, I've identified several of the year's highlights.

Paleng, Lesotho

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Paleng (Place of Stories)
Paleng Children's Centre is barely a year old. The only thing that betrays that fact is their unstable facility situation - the tiny office/library is on loan from the school and their bad weather option, the school hall, is often unavailable to them.
The mission is to improve literacy (importantly, mother tongue literacy) and general child well-being through stories and play.

Already they are a test site for a pilot scheme by the African Storybook Project, have already published and printed several storybooks, and are on the verge of launching a health storybook campaign.

As always with such small projects, the struggle for funds is constant. You can find more information at www.paleng.weebly.com

Cheshire Homes, Swaziland

Cheshire Homes is the only centre in Swaziland providing rehabilitative care for adults and children; services that include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, assistive devices, education & information on disability and HIV/AIDS & TB.

Tasked with creating a video that would be used both for raising public awareness of the services and for raising funds, I spent a month visiting the centre, getting to know the patients and staff.

The principal theme of the video is the principal philosophy of CHESWA, small successes. There is no promise of miracle cures, simply that through hard work, dedication and support, mental and physical well-being will improve and patients can learn to live with their condition.

More info on their Facebook page.

Athens, Greece

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A Tale of Two Cities: Athens & Berlin
Left with an empty space in my calendar after a job in South Sudan fell through (security), I was on the lookout for another exciting project. Then the Greek ruling party Syriza decided to call a referendum on whether to accept bailout conditions imposed on them by the ECB, EU and IMF. The framework of the European Union seemed under threat. I felt that this was one  of those "living History" moments and not an opportunity one gets too often, especially when you're available. With no specific project planned, I left for Athens.

Upon arriving, I was struck by the huge contrast between what we were hearing in the media and what was happening on the ground. The country was, and still is, enveloped in grave social and economic issues. However, we were being sold a story of Armageddon-like proportions. It was, effectively, the end of the world as we knew it.

So why did it seem like a lot of people were simply getting on with their lives?

The idea for the 2Photographers project came out of this desire to show two societies, Athens and Berlin, that were currently the focus of huge amounts of attention for very specific reasons. So, instead of showing protest and hardship, myself and Berlin-based photographer Ben Chislett had a go at widening our field of vision a little.

You can see the results on the 2Photographers website.

Clowns without Borders UK, India

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People need to eat. But they also need to laugh.

Which one takes priority is not usually the subject of any serious debate. Until you watch the clowns.

I worked with Clowns without Borders South Africa back in 2010 but this time it was the UK chapter that took me to India for their first solo tour since their foundation last year.

The response of children and adults alike, often in very different ways, is magical. But magical in the sense that you think to yourself "If the magic from the fairytales doesn't exist, this is probably the next closest thing."

Over two weeks, the clowns performed to thousands of children, with audiences ranging from 1200 to 12. They put on shows for schoolchildren, orphans, refugees, children rescued from human trafficking (often not mutually exclusive categories) and the joyous response was universal.

Don't take it for a joke, however. These clowns are professionals and making people smile is serious business.

http://clownswithoutborders.org.uk/

Kathmandu, Nepal

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Taking advantage of my proximity, I nipped over to Nepal from India once the CWBUK tour finished. It was the same interest that had taken me to Athens earlier in the year. Nepal was six months on from a huge earthquake that had, as far as I was concerned, razed the country to the ground.

It turns out that for the most part it had. Although I was still fascinated by the overwhelming bias towards scenes of destruction and misery in international media. What I found was a place full of community initiatives, many involving young people, that had seemingly done far more to bring the country out of disaster than the Nepali government and international aid agencies had. I confess, this is a very superficial judgement of a complex issue but there was undoubtedly a strong sense of community and solidarity among the Nepalese I met.

Unfortunately, Nepal was now in the grip of a fuel crisis due to a border blockade due to a constitutional disagreement with India. The most obvious result being that fuel was five times the price. That being if you could get hold of it at all.

For me, this meant being more or less restricted to Kathmandu. However, events in Paris made me consider a second 2Photographers project, Aftermath: Paris & Kathmandu

Du Sa Makha, Nepal

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And last, but not least, a return to the Azulejo Art series. This time, in Patan, Nepal. A spur of the moment street art collaboration with local artists Aayush Bajracharya and Pranav Joshi.

Du Sa Makha (There is but you do not see)
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Dance of the Wind

30/6/2015

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There's no better place to catch the wind than the trees. Here we see a blustery dance along the River Miño in Galicia, Spain.
what I hadn't expected was the light display the swaying branches would produce.
This video is part of my ongoing #thefourelements project
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Street Soundtracks

19/6/2015

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Street Soundtracks is a project I've just started that looks at taking street music and using it as a soundtrack to images from the very street it's being played on.
It's mobile phone recording of course, but it seems to work. Here I've included the first three videos made on a visit to the UK. You'll see how they develop from the first to the third.
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Cheshire Homes of Swaziland

27/5/2015

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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.

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Portuguese Traditional Dance

27/5/2015

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Every Sunday a crowd gathers on the riverbank in Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal, to play music and dance. Nothing more: no alcohol needed, no pro dancers or musicians brought in to entertain. Just the neighbours - young and old (although mostly old) getting together for a shindig.
Recorded on a mobile phone (not gonna tell you which one)
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Babylon System - Sotho Sounds

9/11/2013

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Video for KitAid

18/10/2013

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Avideo for KitAid to show their work in Malealea, Lesotho at their 15th anniversary celebrations.
KitAid Blogpost http://www.kitaid.blogspot.com.es/2013/10/new-kitaid-dvd-filmed-in-lesotho.html
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About

Edward (Edi) Morgan is a photographer, artist, storyteller and creative cowboy based in Vigo, Spain, working both nationally and internationally.

(+34) 649 349 763
edward [at] edwardmorgan.net
Unless otherwise stated, all content © Edward Morgan 2016

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