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Transcendent Spirit - Doug Menuez Discusses His New Photography Book
By Robert A. Schaefer, Jr. | Wisdom and Inspiration |
Nov 1, 2007
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All images © Doug Menuez
Several months ago, Double Exposure published my article, "Heaven, Earth, Tequila—An Interview with Doug Menuez," and in it, I asked Doug about his future plans. One of his main goals in photography was to finish a book on AIDS orphans in Uganda. Recently, I got a notice that Transcendent Spirit— The Orphans of Uganda is now published and available for purchase. Dame Elizabeth Taylor wrote the introduction to the book, and Doug’s photographs portray these children beautifully. The project is so important that I decided to re-interview Doug about the making of Transcendent Spirit.
Robert Schaefer: Who conceived this project, and how did you become involved with it?
Doug Menuez: Macy's had sponsored my last book "Heaven, Earth, Tequila" and was happy with that. Larry Hashbarger runs a division in Macy's West that runs the PASSPORT HIV/AIDS fashion fundraiser and they have raised over 25 million dollars for the cause, an amazing fact which I was not aware of. He called me to tell me about these orphans from Uganda who have a dance troupe that tours the U.S. every two years. Twenty orphans manage to support 700 others in orphanages in Uganda (under the administration of a non-profit called Empower African Children), and Larry thought it would be something I might want to shoot, but also he had in mind creating a book project that would celebrate not only the children and raise funds for them, but commemorate the 25 years of PASSPORT. I went to see the kids and was blown away. Their show at the Joyce Theater in New York was spectacular, but there was something about these children and their radiant, almost aggressive joy onstage that made me want to know more. I spoke to the children and heard some of their stories—whole families butchered by rebels in the North, whole families wiped out by AIDS and so forth- yet these children maintained the most incredibly optimistic, positive outlook. How, I wondered, did they find the strength to overcome the tremendous adversity they'd experienced yet remain so generous and kind to each other and complete strangers? I realized I'd have to go to Uganda, to the orphanages and to their home villages to document their lives if I was to have any chance of making pictures that would capture even a fraction of their spirit and power. Larry and Macy's underwrote the trip to Uganda and then the printing of the book. I asked David Cohen ("Day in the Life" books) to produce the book and he created the budget and structure, brought in the publisher, Beaufort Books, and worked out the production. I ended up designing the book as the budget did not cover that.
RS: How was Dame Elizabeth Taylor brought into the project?
DM: Larry and Macy's have a relationship with her through the PASSPORT shows and she is the chairwoman of the event. When they asked her to write the introduction, she looked at the photos and agreed.
RS: What is the main goal of the project?
DM: To create a book that will raise funds for the orphans in Uganda and thereby celebrate Macy's PASSPORT accomplishments.
RS: Were the children receptive to the project?
DM: The kids were incredibly receptive and open to me. I tried to be respectful and careful in how I photographed them, and it took only a short while before I was accepted. After that I was able to shoot freely. They respond with real warmth and love to anyone who shows them love. Of course I fell in love with them and am now even more driven to make this book a success. You know we try to make images that create change in the world, but the truth is what really changes things is cash. We need to sell books to make an impact. These children have worked hard for themselves and are creating their own chance to change their lives for the better. It's truly a good news story from Africa about grass roots change and it all stems from education. The orphanage is run by Empower African Children and as the name says, the children have been empowered. They get food, clothes a safe place to live and an education. Some get scholarships through the tours to US colleges. That is really amazing and gives great hope for Uganda because the ones who have gone through US schools are returning to help rebuild the country. This is a place devastated by 40 years of continuous war in addition to the AIDS crisis.
RS: How did their relatives respond to the project?
DM: Although most of the kids are orphans to AIDS or war, there are one or two kids with a surviving parent and I did meet other relatives of some kids. I was welcomed and treated like family. The parents seemed happy to have anyone interested in their situation. That, of course, puts even more pressure on us to make this book work for them. I actually got to see the kids I photographed again last week in LA where we launched the book as part of Macy's PASSPORT event. They flew them in to dance. It was incredibly emotional to see them again- the first time since I shot them in Uganda a year ago- and they were incredibly happy with the book. That was a great relief. We did a book signing together at a Macy's store and it was tremendous fun and very gratifying to see the project coming to fruition.
RS: Describe your feelings during the shooting of the images. Was it difficult?
DM: I go into a kind of neutral trance state when I work and stay fairly detached so I can do my job. But I did feel a lot of pressure to get images that would provide even a glimpse of the strength I saw in these kids and I knew I did not have a lot of time. Everything with a charity project is always tight budget-wise so it was a gamble that we'd get enough material in the brief time allotted. This was also a very positive story- the first really positive story I've had the pleasure to do in Africa. So it was really fun for the most part and I worked a lot on getting back to basics as a photographer. Some days I used only a 50mm and turned my Nikon D2x's on manual. It was part of an effort to go back to basics. I actually re-read Cartier Bresson's journal on photography (The Mind’s Eye) and thought a lot about how I see. I recommend it highly. But to answer the question more directly, one of the kid's mentioned that he'd never seen his father's grave, and that he wanted to go up into the war zone in the North of Uganda to find the grave. He had heard his brothers had survived the massacre that took his parents and other family, and he also wanted to find them. We did go up there and actually found the grave and his brothers through a series of near miracles. When i saw him embrace his brothers after being separated by war for 8 years, well that was the end of the detached approach. I was blown away and very moved by this of course.
RS: Where will the book be sold?
DM: Beaufort Books is publishing it in the U.S. and distributing it to all major bookstores and Amazon later this fall. They can be preordered on Amazon now. Books are also in 27 Macy's stores in the West right now. I believe they are also available on Macy's site.
RS: Do you foresee doing similar projects to this one in the future?
DM: Photography books are so incredibly hard to do and so hard to fund. Yet my dream is to keep doing projects like this that can be both satisfying as an artist but also might bring attention to issues of the human condition and possibly bring opportunities to change things for the better.
RS: What else would you like readers to know about Transcendent Spirit?
DM: I just hope we can break through the usual glazed-over reaction here to the onslaught of images of tragedy in the world. Photography books are typically difficult to sell, and photo books about subjects like AIDS sell worst of all. Yet I'm optimistic that people will see that this book tells a different, hopeful story. These talented children represent the best of the human spirit and prove that education and a little empowerment can dramatically change lives for the better. Buy the book!
RS: I’m going to contact Amazon Books and order it today.
Transcendent Spirit: The Orphans of Uganda
Author/Photographer: Douglas Menuez
Introduction: Dame Elizabeth Taylor
Text: Rachel Scheier
Published by: Beaufort Books, New York
9”x12” landscape, hardcover, 156 pages
$35.00
To purchase this book, go to:
http://www.empowerafricanchildren.com
Douglas Menuez is represented by Radical Media and can be contacted at:
menuez pictures, llc
77 cornell street + suite 121
kingston, ny + 12401
studio 845.331.2100 + fax 845.331.2113
www.menuez.com
dm@menuez.com
Robert A. Schaefer, Jr. is a founding member of Photoworkshop.com, and has been a fine-art photographer for over 30 years. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as the Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris, France. In 1999—2000 he had a 25-year retrospective of his work at the Huntsville Museum of Art in Huntsville, Alabama, his home state. His exhibition, Two Sides of the Coin—which deals with his German family and the Holocaust—was held at the DeFrog Gallery in Houston, TX in March, April and May 2004 as a part of Fotofest. Two images from this exhibition were recently purchased by the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. He is currently working on a documentary film about this project and will have a one-person exhibition (November 10, 2007 to January 8, 2008) at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, Alabama. This work is a body of documentary images of an farmer in North Alabama. Schaefer writes about photography for Double Exposure and Fotophile Magazine in New York City and The Photo Review in Pennsylvania. He teaches photography in the Department of Continuing and Professional Studies at New York University.
Robert can be contacted at rasjrpro@earthlink.net and www.schaeferphoto.com.
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