Thursday, 20 November 2014
Monday, 10 November 2014
Friday, 19 September 2014
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Fail Again. Fail Better.
While we failed in our mission to set up the Truth Booth, due to vastly underestimating the severe winds and potential for sandstorms, we succeeding in our first Burn. It was overwhelming, remarkable, sometimes unreal, relentless, and totally amazing. Perhaps next year we'll get it right?
The Truth about Burning Man
Loading@therealjimricks valiantly trying to keep @insearchofthetruth from flying away in a dust storm. #thetruthbooth
Friday, 5 September 2014
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Monday, 10 February 2014
Friday, 3 January 2014
Saturday, 21 December 2013
Sunday, 15 December 2013
Monday, 30 September 2013
That awkward moment when...
That awkward moment when... The taxi driver decides to attempt going OVER a huge earthen barricade in the middle of the road. *slaps head* Just outside the ancient city of Balkh.
Friday, 20 September 2013
Last, but...
This is long overdue... an enormous thank you to Antoinette de Jong! Antoinette made this project, full stop. Literally. We met her at the Unseen Photo Festival in Amsterdam a year ago where she mentioned the idea of taking the Truth Booth to Afghanistan completely out of the blue. Of course we said yes, but it took countless hours, days, and months of preparing and organizing and behind the scenes work to actualize it. All of this was done by Antoinette. Her unreal patience in all of our dealings, her understanding and appreciation of the In Search of the Truth project, years of experience in Afghanistan, and her extraordinarily generous approach to everyone will not be forgotten. Antoinette got us off the ground and guaranteed the success of our journey. Our appreciation and gratitude is immense. Thank you. And you should check out her and her partner's amazing book in the meantime: Poppy: Trails of Afghan Heroin
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Tip Top
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Friday, 6 September 2013
A 1TV Presenter speaks the #truth in Kabul today
Today was our final day putting up the booth in Afghanistan – we're leaving tomorrow. The day was billed as "media day" and most of the time was spent by 1TV filming promos in and outside the booth. The promos are for a Truthbooth show they will be producing once we get the footage translated and sent over. They have been great partners, giving us a permanent floor manager who toured with us, helping with security and logistics, and translations (among a host of things). We absolutely couldn't have pulled this off without their collaboration and support. Many, many thanks! Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Over 600 Truth Booth portraits and counting!
The tour of Afghanistan is close to wrapping up with only one more stop in Kabul now, so we should get over 700. Not all are usable, but it's still far more than we expected to get and some are just stunning. Now the challenge is getting them all translated and subtitled, which is a task far greater (and expensive!) than we had planned. We have only a few completed so far... and it has taken all our extra time. If anyone knows how to help (fluency in Dari and Pashto (and English) essential), please contact!
Absolute Truth
We were able to get permission to set up the Truth Booth right at the base of the Buddha which was dynamited by the Taliban in 2001. It was the largest Buddha sculpture in the world at 175 ft and took 100 years to build between the 4th and 5th centuries. Bamyan, which lay on the ancient silk road, was at the time the epicenter of Buddhism and housed over 4,000 pilgrims in the tunnels and caves around the sculpture. Buddhism first spread west to here, then east to China.
The Afghan Autumn Collection
We had to bump up our style (and disguises) in Afghanistan so we got fitted with some Afghan casual wear (the ubiquitous Shalwar Kameez) in Mazar-i-Sharif. This was our tailor who hooked us up!
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
The Potato Fields of Bamyan
Bamyan is famous for its potatoes. Small fields growing spuds and the farm workers harvesting them are ubiquitous throughout the town. Afghans really do make a big deal about these spuds... and with good reason, they're delicious!Monday, 2 September 2013
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Above the Afghan Mountains
View of the mountainous Afghan landscape from the window of our aging Russian prop plane.
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Our police escort. On an ancient city wall.
We visited the ruins of the 5,000 year old city of Balkh today (with the help of our most trusted police dude) which at one time was the epicenter of Zoroastianism, a Hellenistic empire (Greek Bactria), Buddhism, and later Islam. The oldest mosque in Afghanistan is close to these fortress walls the guard is standing on.
Portraits of young workers in the park
From the top: 'Samosa' seller, Shoe shine boy, and two boys work a phone battery charge center/juice stand. All in the park of the Blue Shrine.
Friday, 30 August 2013
The Blue Mosque
The blue mosque is the holiest shrine in Afghanistan and the reputed burial site of Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin, making it the third holiest site behind Mecca and medina for Shias (this is disputed!). We had to go to a million ministries, the governors office and the chief of police to get the booth there!
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
The Truth is I'm proud to be Afghan
A truth portrait taken at the Mehri Herawi girls school in Herat.
Monday, 26 August 2013
The great Amir Shah
At the Mehri Herawi girls school in Herat
Sunday, 25 August 2013
Documentation
Our own documentary filmmaker Mel Preen. She's just joined the Truthbooth Team in Herat.
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Check
After 6 security checkpoints and a dog sniffer we made it through unmolested to Kabul airport thanks to our disguises. On our way to Herat (after 2 more security checks!)
Friday, 23 August 2013
LACMA on Fire (FAKE! Part 1)
Jim Ricks takes a trip to the local "pinting" shop in Kabul to commission a reproduction of Ed Ruscha's "LACMA on fire." Stay tuned folks . . . results in 10 days.
Portraiture & Skateistan
Ahmad Khān Abdālī (Pashto/Persian: احمد خان ابدالي), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded to be the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. His portrait is seen throughout the capital.
This particular portrait was done by one of the kids over at Skateistan, an ambitious and interesting NGO that promotes education and activities for boys and girls, the disabled, in Afghanistan and Cambodia. Check them out, they're doing good things.
This particular portrait was done by one of the kids over at Skateistan, an ambitious and interesting NGO that promotes education and activities for boys and girls, the disabled, in Afghanistan and Cambodia. Check them out, they're doing good things.
Thursday, 22 August 2013
Leg work
We rented a Swan paddle boat at Lake Qargha to get photos and just to go for a spin. Beautiful. *squeak* *squeak* *squeak*
A respected teacher came today to tell the Truth
Can't wait to translate what he said inside the booth.
Lake Qargha
This is our last destination in Kabul before we hit the road. Actually roads are too dangerous so we'll have to fly. Lake Qargha is very beautiful and secure now but was the scene of a bloody Taliban attack last year.
A few stills from the Truth Booth
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Olympic Stadium
Today:
15 years ago:
Taliban death stadium reborn as Afghan sporting hope
KABUL |(Reuters) - Its pitch, they said, was so bloodsoaked that grass would not grow. For years, the only spectacles on offer at the Ghazi Stadium in the Afghan capital were executions, stonings and mutilations by the Taliban, rulers of the country from 1996 to 2001.
On Thursday, thousands of young Afghan athletes wearing soccer strips, boxing and running warmup gear, and the belted white suits of martial artists, came to the stadium to celebrate its official re-opening. This time, the grass has been ripped up and replaced with bright green artificial turf, part of a U.S.-funded stadium refurbishment.
"Of all the international projects implemented in Afghanistan, this is one of the most popular, it enjoys the support of all Afghans," said Lieutenant General Mohammad Zaher Aghbar, president of Afghanistan's National Olympic Committee, and a goalkeeper with the army's soccer team for five years.
Scrubbing the #truth
The Truth Booth is starting to get dirty out here in Kabul which seems like a giant dustbowl at times..
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Nightly pest patrol
mosquitos from Ryan Alexiev on Vimeo.
Ryan's late night mosquito hunt. It's cool, he usually wins and there is only a moderate to low malaria risk here in Kabul.
Guarding the Truth @Mikrorayon Park
The most ironic thing about this shot is that having a dude with a machine gun stand guard makes the booth seem safe and inviting in Afghanistan. Everything is about security here. He was one of five in our security contingent.
Jaleel explaining the Truth to the people
Jaleel is our Truth Booth floor manager and general overall stud. Here he's telling the onlookers about the booth and signing them up to participate. No way we could pull this off without him and the 1TV crew.
“There is a road to the top of even the highest mountain”
A Dari Proverb we are finding very fitting (inspirational?) to describe the last few days. Unable to get the proper security permits at our selected locations, we've been grounded for two days now and losing our minds. Our lock, Kabul University, backed out fearing the Truth Booth will incite student riots!
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Ouch!
The Truth is . . . Scorpions! from Ryan Alexiev on Vimeo.
A lighthearted Truth Booth video in English filmed at Babur Gardens. We're busy translating the others which are mostly in Dari and Pashto.
The Truth Booth team at Qargha lake
From left: Antoinette deJong and Ian MacWilliam (from FreePress Unlimited), Jim Ricks and Ryan Alexiev (from Cause Collective).
Qargha Lake
Qargha lake was the site of a major terrorist attack last year by the Taliban. We're scoping the site right now as a potential Truth Booth location. Very secure now and a favorite place for people from Kabul to picnic and swim.
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