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November 20, 2008 |
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Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
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Text, Interview, & Photographs by Jennifer Warren |
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I AM POWERFUL: A CELEBRATION OF WOMEN’S POTENTIAL Women Empowered
cover, Women Empowered: Inspring Change in the Emerging World by Phil Borges; © 2007 Phil Borges / Rizzoli “For more than 30 years, I have lived with and documented indigenous and tribal cultures around the world. When I first enter a remote village, I’m usually greeted by the children. My photographic equipment gives me the perfect opportunity to interact without having to use words. Typically the young boys are the bold ones, wanting to help or hamming it up for the camera. The girls, with few exceptions, are more hesitant and remain at the edge of the group. Over the years, I came to accept this difference as normal. I thought this was just an inherent quality of “girlness” and “boyness,” because it was prevalent in so many cultures. Then I began to realize that these differences are learned as part of a pattern of discrimination against women and girls. While the women’s movement in the West has made much progress, I continue to be shocked by how women’s rights are compromised in the developing world. It occurs in every arena: education, division of household labor, political representation, access to credit, available health care … the list goes on. In 2004, I began documenting CARE’s humanitarian work. The cornerstone of their program to eliminate global poverty is empowering women and girls. After a year and a half visiting dozens of CARE projects and meeting hundreds of participants and staff around the world, I, too, came to believe that the most efficient way to alleviate poverty and reduce population pressures in the developing world is to empower women and girls through education, economic opportunity and open discussions about rights. Here are a few of the extraordinary women I have met that have broken through the cycle of repression or cultural tradition that limited their well-being and that of their communities. Women heroes, remote and unknown, on the vanguard of a global shift toward gender equality.”  © 2007 Phil Borges, photographed by Jennifer Warren at United Nations Exhibit
"A deeply inspirational work. Phil Borges has brought us face to face with heroes 'remote and mostly unknown women' on the edge of a slow but steady transformation, bringing social and economic justice to women and girls worldwide.” - Isabelle Allende ________________________________________ EMPOWER | INSPIRE: A Story of Heroes Text, Interview, & Photographs by Jennifer Warren  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
Internationally known photographer Phil Borges is on the road again. This time across the United States instead of across the world, on a book tour to promote women’s rights with the humanitarian organization CARE International. The new book is titled Women Empowered, created in partnership with CARE’s I am Powerful campaign for the empowerment of women, and in conjunction with a compelling traveling exhibition sponsored by Hewlett-Packard HP. Women Empowered, published by Rizzoli and distributed by Random House, was released just two weeks ago in all major bookstores, and specially featured in Borders Books & Music stores around the country. Through Phil Borges’ moving imagery and interviews, the book tells the personal stories of 25 women around the world, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ghana, Ethiopia, Togo, Benin, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, and the United States.  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
Madeline K. Albright gives the Foreword, here in part: “THROUGH THE STUNNING PHOTOGRAPHY and straightforward commentary of Phil Borges, readers come to know how women such as Fahima in Afghanistan, Abay in Ethiopia, Hasina in Bangladesh, and Violeta in Ecuador are improving and enriching their own lives, and those of the people around them. … WOMEN IN POOR COUNTRIES inevitably play a central social role. Because of the obstacles many face, they also have a strong interest in ensuring that knowledge is shared. This is why poverty-fighting projects that focus on women are so constructive; each becomes a platform for further gains. Women are eager to explain what they have learned to their children and neighbors. Archana Kundu, a mother and member of a CARE-supported women’s self-help group in rural India, put it this way: “For us to have a better life, the people around us have to have a better life. You just can’t have a good life when people around you are unhappy. We have a moral responsibility to support the women around us. I enjoy doing it. Now I know so much, I want to share it.” … UNDERLYING ALL THIS is the simple view that every individual—male or female—counts. This is the philosophy of democracy at its best, and it has been the driving force for six decades behind the work of CARE. THIS VIEW IS NOT BASED ON ANY ILLUSIONS; humanitarian workers, in particular, have seen far too much of tragedy and death to indulge in sentimentalism. But we live in a world that has been immeasurably enriched by the survivors, by those who have lifted themselves out of poverty and have overcome hardships to blaze new trails to success.”  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
The United Nations headquarters in New York City is hosting the first large format exhibition of this inspiring collaboration between Phil, CARE, and HP, on display through March 31, 2007. A smaller printed version of the show is traveling as well, and has recently left the Kathleen Ewing Gallery in Washington, D.C. for Vancouver, Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, and hopefully Europe and Asia. There are handsome reproductions of Phil’s images on the Kathleen Ewing Gallery website: But nothing compares to his wonderful prints. Rich and textured, Phil has incorporated the brushstrokes of alternative darkroom techniques, handwritten quotes and information about each woman he has photographed, and his well-known method of hand-painting certain aspects of the portraits, to bring out elements of each individual’s personality. All on HP’s stunning new professional line of Z series printers, the Z3100.  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
“HP is pleased to use its innovative printing technology to showcase the remarkable work CARE is doing throughout the world,” said Walt Sledzieski, manager, Large Format Business Unit, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “We are delighted to expose new audiences to CARE’s work to empower women in the fight against poverty, while also demonstrating HP’s excellence in professional photo printing.” Also on display in the traveling exhibition are colorful prints from CARE’s successful projects in India, Peru, Egypt, Cambodia, and Angola, by 10 photographers: 5 Masters and 5 advanced students. HP sponsored this mentorship program to help bring CARE’s I am Powerful campaign through the images captured by these very talented teams. CARE selected the 5 Master Photographers: Phil Borges, Ami Vitale, Maggie Steber, Meredith Davenport, and Evelyn Hockstein; while HP selected the 5 talented students: Hoshito Omija, Sam Penninger, Jessica Wunderlich, Una Brosnan, and Ilan Godfrey.  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
________________________________________ I spoke with the team who put this inspiring project together: Photographer Phil Borges, CARE’s Senior Photo Editor Valenda Campbell, and CARE’s Marketing Alliance Manager, Beth Meyer, about their dedication to women in the fight against global poverty. Who concepted this collaboration to empower women and fight global poverty? Valenda: We started our relationship with Phil back in 2004, myself and CARE’s Associate Photo Editor at the time, Jason Sangster. We were looking for photographers who have the vision and strong execution that reflects our work with women, and captures the potential power that women have over conquering poverty around the globe. We contacted Phil as we found his work strongly reflects our efforts. He was very responsive right from the beginning, he had been doing many photo commissions over the years and had already keyed into the role that women play within their communities globally. Our work with women complimented those goals as well. We told him what we had in mind, a big project where we send him to each region where we work, and then put together exhibits, a coffee table book, and multimedia piece. The first trip was to Ethiopia in 2004; Jason accompanied Phil to make sure he had the support that he needed. It clicked. We hit it off really well, and Phil got it right away. Phil: I got the call from CARE for photography, and originally I thought they were a relief organization. I talked with Valenda to get a better sense of their goals, and understood that they are a development organization, with the cornerstone of their work being the empowerment of women and addressing global poverty. CARE believes the empowerment of women is the most efficient way to address poverty. I see a similar agenda and we talked about partnering. Women Empowered is the book we created, and the exhibit is a part of CARE’s ongoing campaign for the empowerment of women, I am Powerful. CARE pulled HP in later, while looking for corporate partnership and a symbiotic relationship to support their work, while also supporting the Hewlett-Packard corporation with their positive message. Valenda: Something important to mention that is very special about this collaboration is Phil’s dedication to the overall cause and to these women and their communities. Phil is donating to CARE 100% of the Women Empowered book royalties up to $10,000, and 50% of all book royalties thereafter. It’s very exciting for us here at CARE to be working with someone so committed and talented.  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
Can you tell us more about the collaboration between CARE and HP? Phil: Beth organized a program with HP in which they sent 5 master photographers out into the field with 5 advanced student photographers from around the world. I was paired with a student from Japan, Hoshito. We went to Cambodia to document women’s issues; specifically a group of women in Cambodia that are addressing AIDS and managed to get a shipment of anti-retroviral drugs to distribute among the community. Then, I talked to HP about getting the show at the United Nations. Beth: Valenda and I worked very closely on the CARE and HP relationship. HP actually came to us about the I am Powerful campaign. They saw how photography brings the fight against global poverty to life, and can engage people and bring people into that fight. Phil: The partnership between HP and CARE has helped elevate the I am Powerful campaign, and the public’s awareness of CARE’s work to help empower women in poor countries. I was thrilled to have an opportunity to work with HP on the launch of Women Empowered at the UN. I was ecstatic to see the quality and accuracy of the prints that came off the HP Designjet Z3100 photo printer. This HP technology is helping us tell the stories of women from around the world.  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
How did you select the 5 master and 5 student photographers to work with the campaign? Beth: It was a bit of a process. We have worked with all of the Master photographers in the past, and were ensured that they already understood the I am Powerful campaign. Then, we matched them based on availability and the countries that we wanted to feature. HP selected the student photographers from all over the world. There were fabulous relationships that came out of this great project. We had a master photographer and student photographer at the New York PhotoExpo in November to speak about their participation in the program. The exhibit, and the photographers’ stories, created a lot of buzz. For the UN exhibition, the photographs were printed on the Z3100, part of the new HP professional photography printer line. This initial campaign focuses on supporting the launch of the Z series printers, and there are still only a handful of these printers in the country. The print house Digital Pond in San Francisco, www.digitalpond.com, is one of the first print shops to have this printer in house. We worked closely with them to create the I Am Powerful exhibit that was launched at PhotoPlus Expo last November, and to produce the beautiful, large format Women Empowered exhibit which is currently showing at the United Nations. For the creation of the I Am Powerful exhibit, HP invited the 5 professional and student photographers to preview the printer, work with the experts, and compile the exhibit together in San Francisco. Valenda: We also leveraged the project to gather feature stories for our 2007 annual report. HP is very happy to partner on this, and we have a nice annual report that’s coming out in a few weeks.  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
What are CARE's plans for future work with HP? Beth: There are a number of things we are talking about with HP, the exhibit is one of the easiest to continue. In addition to this, one specific thing we are starting to work with HP on is a set of Mother’s Day cards, from 5 of the images in the exhibit. With these images, we’ll be creating a five-pack of Mother’s Day cards that people can receive with their donation to CARE during May, www.care.org.motherscards. We’ll also be using these images in our online e-cards as part of our Mother’s Day program. We may also be working with HP to print I Am Powerful billboards. This will be the first time that we will have been able to put our Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on billboards, thanks to HP’s support. The question we all have now is how can we elevate this partnership, to bring continue to bring CARE’s work, and the I Am Powerful campaign to life through beautiful and inspiring images? Valenda: We also leveraged the project to gather feature stories for our 2007 annual report. HP is very happy to partner on this, and we have a nice annual report that’s coming out in a few weeks.  © 2007 Phil Borges, photographed by Jennifer Warren at United Nations Exhibit
What are CARE's plans for future work within the communities that were photographed? Valenda: We have a long road to go down in our work and these specific communities and women are our success stories. We continue to build off of that momentum. These women can continue to leverage their relationship with CARE and support this message of fighting poverty in their community, and meanwhile we can share their stories to other communities where they can act as a model. Phil: Women Empowered was just released two weeks ago. I am now finishing the multimedia component, which tells the story of one of the women. The whole project is just finishing up, and I’ll be with the promotion efforts for a while. I’ll let the dust settle before I focus on my next project. I think the empowerment of women is so important, not only for reducing poverty in a community but it’s also critical in stopping the spread of AIDS. When women have the right to demand condom use and to say no to sex the spread of AIDS is drastically reduced. Educated women, have fewer and healthier babies so population pressures are reduced. What we hope will form in the future is more of a balance, that instead of the male dominated hierarchies we are familiar with, there will be more networking, sharing, and partnerships. I think we are slowly waking up to this. Valenda: CARE’s web team is helping produce the Multimedia piece for the web. Phil gathered enough audio material, and he is also incorporating some video footage that CARE Ethiopia captured, about the woman Abay, from Awash, Ethiopia. This is all put together as a nicely-packaged Flash presentation, launching on CARE’s website this week, www.care.org. We are also considering developing two or three additional presentations from other communities and women. The internet creates a great opportunity to explain how CARE’s work is so integrated. It tells that deeper story about how the actions of one woman can have a much broader effect on their greater community, and on the world.  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
________________________________________ Phil is touring Borders Books & Music stores, promoting the release of Women Empowered. He has visited New York and Atlanta so far, and this week he’ll be in Chicago, Los Angeles (Sherman Oaks, CA), and Seattle (Redmond, WA). Remember that 100% of the proceeds go to CARE’s fight again global poverty and the empowerment of women in rural communities. Attend a discussion, and have a book signed for the powerful and inspiring women in your life! AUTHOR: Phil Borges To reach Jennifer Warren, the writer and photographer of this feature, visit www.jwpictures.net.  © 2007 Jennifer Warren
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