Overview participating exhibitions
An Ocean of Possibilities
2014
An Ocean of Possibilities
James Whitlow Delano
Christopher Achobang: Activist, Gadfly, Humanitarian
The Cameroonian activist Christopher Achobang has devoted his life to the defense of the human rightsof the Mbororo minority, who are being driven off their land by the rise of large scale palm oil plantations. Achobang is a thorn in the flesh of the local authorities and has learned how to get around their opposition, but remains at loggerheads with them, and has more than once received death threats. James Whitlow Delano followed Achobang and the villagers and farmers for whom he stands up.
The Sweet and Sour Story of Sugar - The Exhibition
2013
The Sweet and Sour Story of Sugar - The Exhibition
James Whitlow Delano
Looking back without Nostalgia (Suriname)
Even though the sugar industry has now completely disappeared from Suriname, its legacy can still be traced in the faces of local people. In Suriname sugar has been inextricably tied to migration. The need for cheap labour brought different groups of immigrants to Suriname at different stages of its colonial history. Some came involuntarily, some acting on promises made, others in search of a better life. American photographer James Whitlow Delano visited a wide range of ethnic groups whose histories have been linked with the sugar industry, laying bare the demographic history of this diverse nation.
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Looking back without nostalgia
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Looking back without nostalgia
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Looking back without nostalgia
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Looking back without nostalgia
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Looking back without nostalgia
The Sweet and Sour Story of Sugar
2012
The Sweet and Sour Story of Sugar
James Whitlow Delano
Looking back without nostalgia (Suriname 2011)
James Whitlow Delano (Japan/United States) follows back the traces of the demographic history of Surinam. Delano visits different ethnic groups whose history is interwoven with sugar. He starts his search in the Commewijne district, a vast agricultural area that contains the roots of the shared Dutch-Surinamese sugar industry.
Through the course of history the Dutch brought in labourers from abroad to work in the plantation economy. First slaves from Africa, than, after the abolition of slavery, contract labourers from Java, British India and China. Over the course of time these groups shaped Suriname into one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world.
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Looking back without nostalgia (Suriname 2011)
Young Maroon man watches a tamed parrot held by a friend. The Maroons, a general name derived from the Spanish "cimarrón", used to refer to escaped cattle that took to the hills, are descendents of Africans who escaped slavery on foot centuries ago to live deep in the Amazon much as they had in the rainforests of West Africa. Maroons refer to themselves as "Busikonde Sembe" or "People of the Bush".
Djumu, Upper Suriname River.
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Looking back without nostalgia (Suriname 2011)
Young Javanese mother looks out from her home. Mariënburg, Commewijne district.
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Looking back without nostalgia (The Netherlands 2011)
Maroon woman in her swidden field of beans and bananas cut from the Amazon rainforest outside Djumu.
Djumu, Upper Suriname River.
Terra Cognita - Untamed
2012
Terra Cognita - Untamed
James Whitlow Delano
Living with Volcanos: Giving Life and Taking It (2010)
Volcanos have two faces. Eruptions bring death and destruction, as seen in 2010 when Mount Merapi in Indonesia claimed 324 lives during the worst eruption in a century. But at the same time volcanic soil provides a wealth of minerals that are necessary for agriculture. It is from that fact that volcanos encouraged the rise of kingdoms, such as the Majapahit empire on Java. Living around volcanos is a constant process of give and take.
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Untitled
A rice farmer stands watches the biggest eruption of Merapi volcano in over a century. The death toll has risen to 324 people. Muntilan, Java, Indonesia.
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Untitled
Women doing the laundry in a river that has been silted up with volcanic ash. At the same place the ash has weighed down lush tropical foliage almost like a heavy spring snowfall. Muntilan, Java, Indonesia.
The Pursuit of Happiness
2009
The Pursuit of Happiness
James Whitlow Delano
GREAT WALL OF AMERICA (2007)
A sign near the Mexican-American border cautions drivers about the danger of an ‘illegal crossing’.
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GREAT WALL OF AMERICA (2007)
A sign near the Mexican-American border cautions drivers about the danger of an ‘illegal crossing’.
Act of Faith
2007
Act of Faith
James Whitlow Delano
FACES OF ISLAM (Yemen / Philippines / India, 1994-2006)
Delano observed that from the outside Islam sometimes appears dark and monolithic. But that is a view which, he says, is colored by physical distance and cultural differences between Islam and the Western world. In Faces of Islam Delano shows the enormous diversity among Islamic peoples across the world, from West Africa to East Asia and from South Asia to northern Europe. His conclusion: Muslims confess their faith with great differences and a remarkable flexibility. A billion people call themselves Muslims, but there is no single entity that can be called Islam.
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FACES OF ISLAM (Yemen / Philippines / India, 1994-2006)
Delano observed that from the outside Islam sometimes appears dark and monolithic. But that is a view which, he says, is colored by physical distance and cultural differences between Islam and the Western world. In Faces of Islam Delano shows the enormous diversity among Islamic peoples across the world, from West Africa to East Asia and from South Asia to northern Europe. His conclusion: Muslims confess their faith with great differences and a remarkable flexibility. A billion people call themselves Muslims, but there is no single entity that can be called Islam.
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FACES OF ISLAM (Yemen / Philippines / India, 1994-2006)
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FACES OF ISLAM (Yemen / Philippines / India, 1994-2006)
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FACES OF ISLAM (Yemen / Philippines / India, 1994-2006)
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FACES OF ISLAM (Yemen / Philippines / India, 1994-2006)
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RELIGION IN CHINA (China, 1994-2006)
Although the Communist Party has not succeeded in stamping out religion in China, it continues to suppress believers. Chinese Christianity receives the most attention in the West, but other religions have much deeper roots in the country. For instance, Islam arrived centuries ago, along the silk route. From time immemorial religion has been the cement holding together the various groups in China's population. But as a result of Communist suppression, the Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian temples - once symbols of national unity - are now little more than attractions for Western tourists.
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RELIGION IN CHINA (China, 1994-2006)
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RELIGION IN CHINA (China, 1994-2006)
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RELIGION IN CHINA (China, 1994-2006)
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RELIGION IN CHINA (China, 1994-2006)
Another Asia II
2006
Another Asia II
James Whitlow Delano
DEATH THROES OF A GREAT RAINFOREST (1992-2006)
The rainforest of Borneo is one of the oldest in the world. Previously it covered the whole of Borneo and parts of western Indonesia, reaching as far as The Philippines. Today large parts have disappeared due to commercial logging. The very existence of many impoverished native tribes is threatened by this. Some have begun armed resistance, others turn against the migrants who, likewise in search of a better life, have arrived to work the land as it is cleared. James Whitlow Delano documented the exploitation of the forest and the consequences that has for the original inhabitants. Tellingly, he entitled his photo essay DEATH THROES OF A GREAT RAINFOREST (1992-2006).
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DEATH THROES OF A GREAT RAINFOREST (1992-2006)
The rainforest of Borneo is one of the oldest in the world. Previously it covered the whole of Borneo and parts of western Indonesia, reaching as far as The Philippines. Today large parts have disappeared due to commercial logging. The very existence of many impoverished native tribes is threatened by this. Some have begun armed resistance, others turn against the migrants who, likewise in search of a better life, have arrived to work the land as it is cleared. James Whitlow Delano documented the exploitation of the forest and the consequences that has for the original inhabitants. Tellingly, he entitled his photo essay DEATH THROES OF A GREAT RAINFOREST (1992-2006).
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DEATH THROES OF A GREAT RAINFOREST (1992-2006)
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DEATH THROES OF A GREAT RAINFOREST (1992-2006)
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DEATH THROES OF A GREAT RAINFOREST (1992-2006)
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DEATH THROES OF A GREAT RAINFOREST (1992-2006)
Biography
James Whitlow Delano (United States, 1960) has lived in Asia for the last 18 years. With Tokyo as his home base, he works on long-term projects regarding human rights, the environment and cultural developments. His work has appeared in several Noorderlicht Photofestivals. Delano also provided a contribution for the Noorderlicht project The Sweet and Sour Story of Sugar.
