Why I am not setting up a nonprofit in Bali, Indonesia
It was a warm spring day in May 2014, I was cloaked in a light blue cap and gown, surrounded by my family, and…
Field Notes
Jottings and photos from the field
Seeing Beyond Prison Bars
One afternoon in 2014, my friend Mawardi and I were combatting the humid heat with cool, sugary, drinks at a cafe situated in a…
The Eighth Egg
“Sudah bangun Gusti?” It was 4 AM and I sent a text message to Gusti Ayu to ask whether she was awake or not….
လႊတ္လပ္မႈ၏ သူရဲေကာင္းမ်ား – ၿမန္မာၿပည္၏ ၈၈မ်ိဳးဆက္ႏွင့္ မန္ဒဲလားအေမြ
A repost of the blog “Heroes of Freedom: Burma’s 88 Generation and the Legacy of Mandela” for our readers in Burma: ၿမန္မာႏိုင္ငံလုိ အလ်င္အၿမန္…
Heroes of Freedom: Burma’s 88 Generation and the Legacy of Mandela
It is easy when a nation is modernizing as rapidly as Burma is to look only forward, rather than backward. Yet, perhaps one of…
Photography and Activism: Ethnographic Art
This past September, I traveled to Bali, Indonesia, as a still photographer for Elemental Productions, an ethnographic film production studio owned by UCLA anthropology…
Theyyam: When Gods Dance Among Men
According to Indian mythology, Parshurama, a Priest-Warrior and the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu, following a bloody campaign to annihilate the ruling Kshatriyas, flung…
Bali, tourism, and exoticism
Elemental Productions’ upcoming film, Bitter Honey, is a really important movie for the Balinese because it gives a critique to their own culture and…
Bali Shoot, September 2013
Photos and production stills from Elemental Productions’ recent film shoot in Bali, Indonesia during September 2013.
Visual ethnography of people and their pets globally
A “visual ethnography” made of stills recording people and their connection to pets around the world.