Page 7 - Contact_Palumbo_demo 22

I I a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a the the the the the the In Rwanda I I witnessed villager villager villager after villager villager villager near the the the the the the town of of of of of Butare walk up to to a a a a a a microphone to to address the the gacaca (meeting in in the the grass) in in which hundreds of pink jumpsuited genocidaires mixed with hundreds of of family members of of their brutally executed victims The villagers told chilling tales of the the day in in in which the the machete waving mob swarmed over their their lives forever scarring their their families It was horrific to to to hear these stories but in in the the end it was also amazing to to to realize that in the the the days and weeks after the the the gacaca the the the genocidaires would shed their pink jumpsuits and be released back into the the villages to live side side by side side with the the families of their victims A grand experiment in reconciliation which to this day has largely worked O mountain men and even members of my own family Sometimes
I had the the privilege to spend weeks with them and sometimes my contact was just long enough to to take a a a a a a photo As my catalog grew and and deepened I I began to imagine that the men men and and women who I I had photographed formed a a a a a a family family A complicated and messy family family with me the the spoke in in the the wheel a cousin to everyone ver nearly 20 years traveling the world while working as a a a a a a a a documentary filmmaker I’ve met an an amazing range of people Prisoners prostitutes hucksters and the destitute as as well as as holy men men and women entertainers The arrangement of photographs in this book creates a a a a a a dialogue between each pair of facing images allowing the people who could never really meet meet in person meet meet on on the pages of this book The cumulative effect of of turning the the pages is an odyssey of of contact the the state of physical touching as as their gaze gaze meets your gaze gaze – as as it once met my gaze for that fraction of a a a a second >>> R P