Breaking the silence on this News page (hoping to do better in 2018!) with some photographs of an outstanding action I witnessed in Auckland on December 1st - West Papuan Independence Day. On this day around the globe, people raise the West Papuan Morning Star flag, in solidarity with those in West Papua who would risk up to fifteen years in prison for doing so. 

Oceania Interrupted, a group of Maori and Pacific women performed in solidarity with a giant Morning Star in beautiful sunshine, getting lots of interest from passersby and raising awareness for the #FreeWestPapua campaign.

Passionate, powerful, peaceful. Thank you, amazing women. Papua Merdeka!

For more information about the Free West Papua Campaign visit www.freewestpapua.org

I attended a 'Refugees Welcome' demonstration in Bristol on Saturday, making the message loud and clear that refugees are welcome here! More images here

We're now half way through the second lot of Gratitude In Recovery project workshops at Bristol Drugs Project and I can't resist sharing a few of the group's great images here! I'm looking forward to facilitating the last three workshops on behalf of Meridian Raw and helping participants develop their final photo-stories.

It feels like yesterday I was off to Bristol Drugs Project to meet the first group of participants in the Gratitude In Recovery project workshops. I'm facilitating these on behalf of Meridian Raw and it's been an enjoyable 6 weeks of Wednesday afternoon sessions. I was humbled by how willing the group were to share their experiences and get involved.  Using mostly phone cameras, they embraced the idea of using photography to explore their recovery journeys and things they were grateful for.  

I'm looking forward to starting the workshops with a new group tomorrow!

Below are  photo-stories by two members of Group 1 reflecting on their recovery journeys...

I was lucky enough to spend 4.5 months living in the Kathmandu valley in 2010-11. I fell so in love with Nepal and it's warm, kind, gentle people and set up a participatory photography project - Mother Tongues - in partnership with the fantastic organisation Women's Foundation of Nepal. Seeing the recent images of destroyed homes, cultural buildings and lives is absolutely heartbreaking. It is one of the poorest countries on earth and we can ALL afford to donate something to help. Please, please donate to the Women's Foundation of Nepal, they are doing fantastic work on the ground and will use every penny to help those most in need: DONATE NOW

One of the exercises I set participants in the Meridian Raw Gratitude In Recovery workshops I'm currently facilitating at BDP - Bristol Drugs Project is to take a photo every day of something they're grateful for.  I've been taking part too with my cameraphone and finding it a really interesting and inspiring exercise. It's so easy sometimes to forget to appreciate the little moments and seek the positives on even the worst of days! Here's a selection of mine from the past few weeks (I hope to display some from the group soon). For more info about this participatory photography project visit www.gratitudeinrecovery.meridianraw.com

I'm busy getting ready for the first workshop in a new series I'm facilitating for participatory photography organisation  Meridian Raw today at Bristol Drugs Project.  I'm really looking forward to meeting the participants and getting stuck in! The workshops are part of a larger project taking place across the southwest called Gratitude In Recovery

With the news that Syria’s intensifying refugee crisis has now surpassed a record THREE MILLION people, I've been thinking of the Syrian refugee children I met in Cairo earlier this year.  Please consider donating whatever you can afford to the Save the Children Syria crisis appeal to help children like these... 

It's been good to see a few of the images I shot for Save The Children Egypt in use on social media sites recently to help promote the healthcare needs of Syrian refugees in Egypt.   The work STC are doing is really fantastic and it was great to learn more about their projects and visit the 'Child Friendly Spaces' they've set up where children can play, learn and importantly, just be children...

I met six year old Reena* when I was in Cairo with Save The Children recently. She is just one of the 1.2 million children who have fled the conflict in Syria. We took some candlelit portraits to support the global candlelit vigil taking place this week to mark three years of conflict in Syria. Join the vigil and show you stand #WithSyria - www.with-syria.org/en  
(* name changed to protect identity)

Cracking costumes, a table tennis tournament, full samba band and DJ's spinning massive tunes? It could only be a Halloween party, Kings of Ping style, and the finale to a week-long ping pong congress aka Pongress. I called in to the Creative Common big top in Bristol on Saturday night to see what spookiness was going down...

More images from the event on my Facebook page

A few early images from last night's Mass Sleepout Bedroom Tax protest on College Green, Bristol.  I could only stay a short time, but offer maximum respect and solidarity to the dedicated protestors in Bristol (and across the UK) who were preparing to stay all night to highlight the alleged injustices of the controversial 'Bedroom Tax'

I spent a week in France this summer - a laze-about-with-a-book, have-a-snooze-in-the-shade kind of actual holiday. I loved it. I stayed with relatives in Lauzerte, a gorgeous town in the Southwest, perched on a hilltop.  The surrounding countryside is all rolling hills and fields of relentlessly cheerful sunflowers calling you to stroll among them and pretend you're starring in a cheesy romcom.  Food and wine featured heavily, of course (well, when in Rome/Lauzerte!).  I was also lucky enough to be there for the annual Les Nuits de Lauzerte, a magical event where after dark the entire town becomes one huge installation of light, sound and image.  Photographs are projected onto walls, performers take to the streets, music is everywhere...  I enjoyed wondering about in the dark streets as a shadow, never quite sure what would be around the next corner. The main square was, of course, packed with people eating and drinking but a few seconds away an audience in the church sat hypnotised by a woman (who I later found out was Lunacello) with a cello, a loopstation and the voice of an angel. Definitely the star of the show, even if I WAS too busy listening to get a decent shot of her!

In Nov/Dec 2012 I travelled to West Papua with film maker Dom Rotheroe to make a documentary for Al Jazeera English about the ongoing struggle for West Papuan independence.  Travelling undercover, we met with members of the KNPB (National Committe for West Papua) to explore the largely unreported 'silent genocide' taking place in the face of a 40+ year Indonesian military occupation.  

The documentary will be broadcast in the 'People & Power' slot at 22.30 (GMT) tomorrow, Wednesday January 30 and repeated on Thursday 31/01, 0930; Friday 01/02 0330; Saturday 02/02 1630; Sunday 03/02 2230; Monday 04/02 0930 - all times GMT.  

I really hope you will watch and share it, as it's important that the world is alerted to the human rights and environmental tragedies taking place in West Papua.

View a set of images from the trip in my new West Papua 2012 Gallery page

"We've been living life through the camera, seeing our history through the photographs we are taking. 
We learnt and we've developed. We are reviving memories and seeing things from new angles and points of view.  We've taken photos to create memories. We all live in London. Our photographs show our different local histories." 

I enjoyed my yearly peek at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011 exhibition at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery this afternoon.   This stunningly ethereal image of a herring gull in Norway by Jan van der Greef was probably my favourite -

I also, as always, loved the fact that the Bristol exhibition is FREE (donations very welcome though so do make one) whereas if you visit the show at the Natural History Museum in London it'll set you back 9 quid!  Another win for my favourite city!

I spent a lot of time in London in the months leading up to Christmas. 

I was part of a wonderful team working on 'Late Developers', a participatory photography project with elders run in partnership with Clod Ensemble (more on this project to come...).  I also got to indulge in lots of exhibitions (Sophie Gerrard and the new Photographs Gallery at the V&A were particular favourites) and catch up with some fantastic people. 

When I got the chance however, I took a few photos of my own. Here's a small selection: