An Embera village

A day at our lake: 2010 photography scholarship

Panama | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 5 photos

A few years ago I was lucky enough to spend time in a village in Panama, home to a small community of the Embera indigenous group. One typically muggy afternoon I was horsing around in the village lake with the local kids. One of the kids, David, asked me about my home. Like all proud Australians I broke into a patriotic spiel about my homeland’s virtues. After listening to my ramblings, David interrupted, pointed to the lake and said “Do you have this lake at your home?” I had to concede I didn’t. “Then I don’t need to go there”, David responded assertively before executing another perfect dive into the lake. And why would David need to go? Home meant everything to him. And as far as David was concerned, the lake was the most wonderful home anyone could imagine.
From sunrise to sundown the lake provided the lifeblood of David’s community and defined who they were. My photos seek to capture this relationship, displaying many different ways the community made use of their lakeside home across the day; it was where the parents woke their children up, the laundry was done, the men commuted to work, the kids played and the end of day was passed.
I should be chosen to go on this assignment because I believe I have an ability to capture the beautiful and unique relationship that people have with their homes. Just like this Embera village, the people of Bhutan have a special relationship with the place they call home. I believe my ability to appreciate the special relationship that different people have with their communities and their natural and manmade environment, will allow me to capture the full beauty of Bhutan and tell a true story of what it means to be Bhutanese.