The Rain Parade: A Photographic
Journey Across Ghana
(128 pages/58 B&W/Color Plates)
$35.00 USD, Softcover
Editions: ISBN 978-0-9830762-1-6 (06/2011 English)
Purchase at Abingdon Square Publishing
Editing by Kirsten Larvick
With the support of residencies, grants, and fellowships, Julia Blaukopf has traveled throughout Europe and the U.S., as well as Kenya, Ghana, Sri Lanka, and Panama, where she most recently lived. Deeply immersing herself in the lives of others is at the heart of much of her work, and these experiences have resulted in a mix of film and digital photographs, many of which are printed large on media like vellum and back-lit film, bringing a whole new interplay of texture and light to the pieces. As an artist, Julia is drawn to sensory immersion, drenching her text and images with the sounds, feelings, sights and smells of her travels. She likes creating an ethereal, ambiguous quality in her portraits, which tell their stories while defying the usual arc of beginning, middle, and end.
As she travels, Julia works with global initiatives, primarily those that aid female entrepreneurs and artisans. Julia’s travels first brought her to work with the Mt. Kenya Reforestation Project, a community run organization pioneered by Kenyan farmers in 2006, where her photographs helped to raise support and promote awareness for the community’s efforts of planting trees throughout the landscape. That same year, Julia worked with the Ghanian organization Women in Progress to document and promote their women-owned craft jewelry, clothing, and batik business. While in Ghana, Julia photographed the Global Mamas catalog, creating a series of images to promote the work of women artisans through national exhibitions, product sales, and her book, The Rain Parade. Most recently, Julia lived with and photographed a collective of indigenous women artisans in Panama called Bonöre. This work was most recently exhibited at Gravers Lane Gallery in Philadelphia.
Julia has since photographed for Prevention Point Philadelphia, Art-Reach, and countless other initiatives in Philadelphia, Lithuania, Montreal and New York. She continues to work alongside organizations and small businesses as a creative partner.