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Since receiving the highly appreciated and greatly needed support from the O’Brien Foundation in 1995, I haven't been keeping still much. At that time I was a post-graduate student in Eastern European studies. It was right after the fall of the Soviet Union, a very exciting time. During my O'Brien interview, I remember saying something like: "It's not about what my studies can bring to New Brunswick, it's more about what New Brunswick can bring to that region of the world." So, following this line of thinking, I moved to Eastern Europe in 1997, to Latvia, and stayed there until... 2008.
I didn’t complete my PhD from the University of Toronto. Instead, I plunged fully and deeply into the post-Soviet society of Eastern Europe, and decided to become a participant in the growth and reforms, instead of just an observer. Since at the time everything in that society was extremely fluid, I ended up working many different jobs, often 2 or 3 at once. I was a high-school teacher, of French, English, Geography and History, for 4 years. I was a defense consultant for a while, hired by the Canadian Ministry of Defense to assist Latvia's effort at NATO integration. I did some radio reporting for Radio Free Europe. I was hired by the US Embassy in Latvia to run their higher-education programs, the equivalent of a Fulbright Commission, something I did for 8 years. I created and led a foundation, a bit like the O'Brien Foundation, that did fund-raising and provided scholarships to students from Latvia studying abroad. During that time I was also one of the founders and the first chairman of the first ever Latvian National LGBT Association. Then finally I was hired by the Canadian Embassy to the Baltic States to be the Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy Officer for Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. But in 2008, my spouse (who is American) and I, felt the need to return to North America, to return to roots and family. So we moved to Washington DC.
Now back in North America, all of my European experience counted for nothing on the US job market, especially as the economy collapsed, and I was a Canadian without a Green Card. So I returned to university, and got a new degree. This time it was a degree in photography, from Boston University (Washington DC Campus). A whole new, unexpected chapter of my life started.
As a photographer, and also filmmaker, I now call on all of my past education and experience, to produce visual stories from all around the globe. I specialize in social documentary work, as well as in travel photography. Since receiving my diploma, I have worked on 6 continents, including Antarctica, and have received a number of international awards. My work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, in museums and galleries in the United Kingdom, Italy, Argentina, Latvia, Canada and the USA, as well as on National Geographic's website. I have been published on five continents, in publications such as the Washington Post, the Toronto Star, Die Welt (Germany), Der Standart (Austria), the Sri Lanka Guardian, and the list goes on. But most importantly, I have been published in "Le Madawaska" as well!
This work as a photographer and filmmaker has also, unexpectedly, brought me much closer to New Brunswick. I spent much of 2011 creating of body of work about my family - in Edmundston, but also in Fredericton, Moncton and all over eastern Canada. The project is called "Grandma's Quilts," and it talks of home, inheritance, generations, and of course, family. The Musée Historique du Madawaska in Edmundston invited me to turn this project into an exhibit. In the summer of 2012, "Grandma's Quilts" was the featured exhibit at the museum, attracting thousands of visitors. The exhibit included 26 photos, an 18-minute film and 8 of my grandmother's quilts. This project was also shown in parts in Latvia, in Argentina, and in the United States.
I am now embarking on another large New Brunswick adventure. In April 2013, I will be touring French-speaking schools in New Brunswick, to lecture about Antarctica. I was very fortunate to receive a grant to be an artist-in-residence in Antarctica from January to March 2012. I resided on the southern continent at an Argentine base, along with 250,000 penguins. From this expedition, I have created a film which has already been shown in various locations in North and South America and Europe, including in Edmundston. I've also developed a pedagogical program, for kids of all ages. So, assisted by my old high-school friends, from Edmundston's Cité des Jeunes class of 1989, I've put together this tour of New Brunswick schools. I will be visiting francophone schools all over the North-West, from Clair to Grand-Falls to Kegwick, all around the Acadian Peninsula, and most likely as well, in the Saint John area. At the moment, we have 16 schools on the itinerary. I am thoroughly looking forward to bringing my Antarctica experience, and my penguin pictures, to the children of New Brunswick!
And so, that is where I am now, living in Washington DC, traveling all over the globe as a social documentary photographer and filmmaker, and rekindling my links with New Brunswick.
www.gastonlacombe.com
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