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Friends of Turkana

Home
About
Who We Are
Our Board
Our Partners
What We Do
Trips
Into the Light Exhibit: by Cherie Aarts Coley
Trip - Sopel Water
Trip - Crop Planting
Kangalita Water
Projects
Current Projects
Illustrative Projects
Learn More
Facts
News
Join Us
Connect
Become a Friend
Donate
  Into The Light is a photographic journey into the remote northern county of Turkana, Kenya, deep in the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa: the land, the people, the light.     By New Zealand / Brooklyn artist, Cherie Aarts Coley.   The shores of Lak

Into The Light is a photographic journey into the remote northern county of Turkana, Kenya, deep in the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa: the land, the people, the light. 

By New Zealand / Brooklyn artist, Cherie Aarts Coley.

The shores of Lake Turkana are believed to be the place where the ancestors of all living human beings originated. Today, the county of Turkana in the far north of Kenya is one of the poorest and most vulnerable places on earth. Life expectancy is 42 years old. One in three children die before the age of 5. Only 15% of females are literate. 

In July of 2013 I traveled to this remote place with my husband and a couple of people from the charitable organization, Friends of Turkana (FOT). My work with FOT was to document the trip and their work in Turkana. But I also had a personal mission. I had been to Africa many years before, and had spent several months documenting the people and landscape of Central Africa through photography and life drawing. I recalled it being a place of extremes: extreme beauty, poverty, joy and suffering. It was a place where life in its myriad forms was both rich and raw. I was excited to return, this time to a place I'd never been. 

Inevitably I took hundreds of photographs in Turkana. In the editing process I leaned towards selecting images that evoke the extremes of beauty and joy, both in the land and in the people. To me, light, beauty and joy are virtually synonymous and yet also hold the potential for a multiplicity of meaning. 

And in Turkana, the light – in its many interpretations – is strongly palpable. You can feel it – most obviously in the light of the sun (the climate is hot and harsh) – but also within the people of Turkana. There's a deeply inspiring sense of aliveness in these people, despite the almost insurmountable odds against them.

Also, for me personally, the light here represents a movement towards enlightenment (awareness, understanding, knowledge, insight) through education –in this case especially for girls in Turkana, who are generally denied the vast benefits of education.

All photographs are printed onto a lightweight but lasting metal.

Cherie Aarts Coley
January 2015

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  Into The Light is a photographic journey into the remote northern county of Turkana, Kenya, deep in the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa: the land, the people, the light.     By New Zealand / Brooklyn artist, Cherie Aarts Coley.   The shores of Lak
turkana01_1500.jpg
turkana02_1500.jpg
turkana03_1500.jpg
turkana04_1500.jpg
turkana05_1500.jpg
turkana07_1500.jpg
turkana08_1500.jpg
turkana09_1500.jpg
turkana10_1500.jpg
turkana11_1500.jpg
Edurkoit_Girl01a.jpg
Edurkoit_Kids03a.jpg
Kangalika_Well_Digger01a.jpg
Kangalita_Chairman01.jpg
Kangalita_Girl01a.jpg
KakumaDrive01_1500px.jpg
KakumaDrive02_1500px.jpg
sopel_landscape03a.jpg
KakumaDrive03_1500px.jpg
KakumaDrive07_1500ox.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech02_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech03_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech04_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech_woodstove01_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech_woodstove02_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech_woodstove03_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech05_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech06_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech07_1500.jpg
Kakuma_Polytech08_1500.jpg
Turkana_Drive02_1500px.jpg
Turkana_Drive01_1500px.jpg
Turkana_Drive03_1500px.jpg
Turkana_Drive04_1500px.jpg
Turkana_Drive05_1500px.jpg
Turkana_Drive06_1500px.jpg
Turkana_Drive07_1500px.jpg
Turkana_Drive08_1500px.jpg

Friends of Turkana is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. To the extent you do not receive any benefit in exchange for  your contribution, then the entirety of the contribution is tax-deductible.

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Friends of Turkana, 165 Court St, PMB #304, Brooklyn, NY, 11201info@friendsofturkana.com

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