mary-anne james

i picked up mary-anne's business card at freerange photo week 2 this year and was enchanted by her series;

okay i'll go back because of you

"'okay i'll go back because of you' took place in cambodia and also vietnam. it is a project on my mother, and her experiences of having to flee from her hometown in cambodia, phnom penh, in order to escape the khmer rouge troops led by extremist cambodian communists during 1970. in 1970 at 13 years old, and still in her school uniform, my mother along with her family had to flee the country to the capital of vietnam, saigon. each day was a fight for survival as they went from a well respected, wealthy family to refugees fleeing for their lives. i wanted to travel back to my mothers homeland so she could show me where our family's journey took them and to experience what she had to leave behind. it was important to me to learn and understand this important chapter of my familys history." - mary-anne james.

a beautiful set of images by mary-anne, and a powerful backstory to accompany them. i love the subtlety and calmness of the work.

mary-annejames.com