Raising Burma is an experimental photojournalism essay exploring the complex connection Karen refugees have with the land, the challenges they have overcome, and continue to face.
Raising Burma is an experimental, documentary essay created as part of my graduate thesis in photojournalism.
Raising Burma is an experimental photojournalism essay exploring the complex connection Karen refugees have with the land, the challenges they have overcome, and continue to face.
For many Karen refugee families, gardening is a way of life. It is not simply a hobby, or a casual pursuit. It is an important part of their culture. It is a means of connecting to their past, present, and future in one place.
Yet for many of these families, challenges do not cease upon arrival in the US. They escaped ethnic cleansing in Burma (now Myanmar) only to arrive on an unfamiliar shore, with new languages, traditions, economics, and minimal community support.
At Transplanting Traditions Community Farm in North Carolina, these families are learning to transition their existing agricultural skills into the US farming community. The benefits are manifold - through farming, families can provide traditional foods normally hard to obtain in the U.S., and lower grocery costs in the process. They can build skills to help them continue their way of life into the future. And they can reconnect to their traditional, agricultural heritage despite relocation far from home.