Nuru Project

Volume = Impact

Part of the status quo that we seek to disrupt here at Nuru Project is the sale of photojournalism prints as luxury goods: high prices, low print production volume, wealthy clientele.

We believe the true spirit of photojournalism is to tell a story to as wide an audience passionate about social change as possible. We work hard to keep our prices affordable in order that most people who want to have one of our prints in their home can do so.

Whereas the traditional art market associates volume with depreciation, we associate volume with impact. The more prints we sell of a given image, the more people we can draw into a conversation about the social issue depicted and the more funds we can raise for the non-profits our customers choose to support.

We believe: VOLUME = IMPACT

That's why we were thrilled to recently ship our 100th 8" x 10" copy of Kirk Mastin's print, the first print for which we've shipped 100 copies at a single size. A number of these 100 copies were distributed as part of our participation in TED's gift bag, but even these are people we've drawn into a conversation about the intersection of social change and art, and about the work of our non-profit partners. We would like to say a BIG thank you to all of our customers who purchased a copy of this print and to Kirk Mastin for making his incredible print available through Nuru Project!

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-19 12:32:47 -0400.

VOTE!!!

Which Taylor Weidman print from his Vanishing Cultures Project would you be most likely to buy from Nuru?

Place your vote in the Comments of the latest post on our Facebook page.

1 - Baby goats are separated from their mothers during winter grazing and placed in a heated yurt. Mongolia.

2 - Villagers return to town after a day working in fields. Upper Mustang, Tibet.

3 - Nomad on horseback in snowstorm. Mongolia.

4 - Senior monks gather for a ceremony. Upper Mustang, Tibet.

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-18 11:55:47 -0400.

Nuru featured on VSL!!!

Nuru Project + photographer Ross McDonnell are featured today on Very Short List!

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-14 12:20:28 -0400.

New Pep Bonet prints!

New Pep Bonet prints of microfinance in Philippines just in for tomorrow's Kiva event!

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-13 13:03:16 -0400.

Upcoming Events in DC & New York

We're thrilled to bring prints to Kiva New York's Annual Wine Tasting this Thursday in NYC. Sample 4-5 different wines from small, family farms throughout the US and Europe, taste delicious arepas, check out Nuru's exhibit of prints from places where Kiva invests, and meet the fantastic people involved with Kiva New York! As of this morning, less than 5 tickets remain for this event, so snatch one up while you can!

In less than two weeks, we'll be in DC celebrating the conclusion of the Benevolent Media Festival, which showcases storytelling and design for good. The event is being hosted in partnership with Architecture for Humanity's DC chapter and benefits both the chapter and Architecture for Humanity. In keeping with Architecture for Humanity's mission, we're calling the event 'Structure'. All the prints on display will examine human relationships to the built environment. We're thrilled to be holding this event at Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams - a home furnishings store known for both sophisticated and sustainable design. Get your $10 ticket here.

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-12 15:08:01 -0400.

Vote!!!

Which Bear Guerra print would you most likely buy from Nuru Project? Place your vote in the Comments of the latest post on our Facebook page.

1 - project on foreign aid failing Haiti
2 - life under Evo Morales in Bolivia
3 - project on foreign aid failing Haiti
4 - at church, post earthquake in Pisco, Peru

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-11 13:36:19 -0400.

Come see us in D.C.!

WASHINGTON DC! Come check out Nuru Project’s upcoming event in support of Architecture for Humanity.

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-08 11:47:36 -0400.

Remembering One's Roots

Father Steven Depolo gives his adopted Haitian daughter Lourdie a print from home.

With Father's Day approaching, we bring you a story about gifting Nuru prints that is sure to melt the heart. Feeling the spirit? Enter FathersDay2012 in the field marked 'Discounts' during Step 2 of Checkout for 20% off any Nuru Project print! Offer ends Father's Day.

Enjoy the story:

Introduce Yourself!

My name is Steven Depolo. I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Tell me about your daughter.

My daughter's name is Lourdie Bizou Divine Clarke. She was born in Haiti six and a half years ago. My girlfriend Caroline and I decided to adopt a child together and the agency we were working with had relationships in Haiti. When we were in the process, the earthquake happened. Lourdie is a real survivor.

What ties Lourdie to Nuru Project?

I'm always looking for cultural groups and support activities for Lourdie, given her Caribbean Haitian background and that we live in Michigan. About two months ago she turned to me and said she wished she had 'normal' hair and white skin. So I always try to reinforce that she's beautiful and unique and that everyone is different.

I wanted to give her art work about Haiti but there really isn't much. Etsy has a few things, but not museum-quality photographic artwork in my price range. Plus, it seems like everything out there is either 'earthquake porn' or all sparkles and angel dust all over the place. I wanted something that was girls and uplifting but also not erasing what happened, where's she's from, what she survived. And hopefully what she's going to go back to and help rebuild in some way.

Brendan Hoffman's print of girls praying in the wake of Haiti's earthquake is uplifting, but the fact that they're worshipping outside subtly suggests what these girls are going through and how resilient they are.

That my print purchase doubled as a donation to Partners In Health sealed the deal and made it a lot easier.

And how did she respond when you gave her Brendan's print?

Lourdie opened up the photo and was very interested in the scene. She studied it intently which is something she rarely does. She is pretty hyper. When I said it was from Haiti, her first response was to ask why she wasn't in the photo. She was also mad that their hair was nicer than her hair. She likes their braids. She immediately knew the girls were from Haiti. She liked the photo very much.

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-07 09:16:40 -0400.

Upcoming Event for Kiva next Thursday!

TIX - http://bit.ly/KivaWine

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-06 14:22:38 -0400.

Great Quote

Posted by JB Reed 2012-06-04 14:16:18 -0400.

Circle of Dark, Circle of Light

Ivan Sigal breaks down human resilience and the hollowing out of Pennsylvania's industrial belt.

We're excited to announce that Nuru Project is now selling prints from the United States to support domestic non-profits!

To kick things off, we've partnered with Kiva, which is now microlending domestically. Our first two prints from the U.S. come from photographer Justin Maxon. We are honored to share the below review of one of Justin's prints by Global Voices Executive Director Ivan Sigal:

Justin Maxon's print vibrates with pathos and sadness. It depicts mourners in front of the home of a woman slain by an errant bullet. The photo itself reveals little of its subjects. Out of the still center of the image a little girl's body forms the shape of a cross. She holds the hands of adults to each side, linked in turn to the rest of the circle. Their backs are to us, and they face a strong, indistinct light that washes out the top half of the image. This light also creates heavy shadows, cast off their bodies. A circle of dark forms inverts the lightness of the mourners' bodies, weighing them down, rooting them to black and white.

Maxon has spent years photographing in Chester, one of many formerly industrial cities in eastern Pennsylvania. I grew up in this part of PA as well, outside the small city of Reading, which since the 2010 census has been confirmed as the poorest city in the United States. Chester, South Philadelphia, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Palmerton, Allentown, Bethlehem, Reading and many other small cities in Pennsylvania have been hollowed out since the days of their relative prosperity as centers of manufacturing, transport, agriculture, and resources extraction. The causes of failure are many, and increasingly well-documented: the growth of suburbs, highways that cut through or route around communities, the loss of small manufacturing overseas, taxation structures that set off a spiral of increasing property taxes in inner cities that drive out business and drive up costs for residents. The result is too often cities with concentrated inner-city poverty, surrounded by suburbs of significant wealth. Maxon's aesthetic response is to portray that decline with images that suggest the interior life of the people living it, and perhaps, to suggest the complexity of causes with a corresponding visual complexity.

Perhaps it is too much to say that Maxon's expressionistic, high-contrast images of Chester, Pennsylvania are meant to be read as parable. But the choice of chiaroscuro and emphasis of line and form over clearly read content suggests we should seek something universal in these photos. This strategy is repeated throughout: fragmented forms, angular shapes, characters obscured and layered, reflected light, fleeting narratives. We know what is happening in this particular photo thanks to Maxon's accompanying text, a straightforward account of manslaughter and senseless violence. Maxon's imagery resists interpretation, even as his texts clarify.

Ivan Sigal is Executive Director of Global Voices, an international community of bloggers who report on blogs and citizen media from around the world. Ivan is also a photographer who works on long-term documentary projects, including years of travel in the former Soviet Union and Asia. He is currently working on a new project about rural landscapes and urban poverty in Pennsylvania.

Posted by JB Reed 2012-05-29 03:46:38 -0400.

En Route!

Featured Prints:
http://www.nuruproject.org/products/aaron-huey-01
http://www.nuruproject.org/products/alex-masi-01
http://www.nuruproject.org/products/kirk-mastin

Posted by JB Reed 2012-05-29 14:20:17 -0400.

Nuru Prints Make Soulful Gifts

We get lots of emails from people wanting to know, "When is Nuru Project going to offer Gift Certificates?"

We get it: it's hard to pick out the perfect print for someone else. Why not let them pick out their own print? So, as per your request, we are now offering Gift Certificates!

To demonstrate what soulful presents Nuru prints make, we bring you a story from customer Lindsey Pennington about why she gave her Presbyterian minister Espen Rasmussen's print of Muslims praying:

Good Morning JB,

Here is a photo of Cindy Jarvis in her office at the church with her Espen Rasmussen print (it usually lives on the bookshelf behind her). From the time I saw his photo, so poignant in its depiction of faith in the wake of devastation, I knew it was something she would appreciate.

Since I know that Nuru Project focuses on stories, here's a bit from Cindy's last sermon, titled 'The Scandal of This Supper', that encapsulates why we love her, how Brad and I can continue to find relevance and vitality in the church and nourishment for our faith, and how we could gift a picture of praying Muslims to our Presbyterian minister.

"When the first heaven and the first earth pass away and there is nothing to separate us, sheep from every flock, I do heretically believe—Jew and Muslim and Buddhist and Hindu and Shinto and secularist and seeker and Presbyterian and Roman Catholic and Mormon—will break bread together."

Thank you for your work that supports incredible nonprofits and shares powerful stories! We're honored to be a part of Nuru Project.

Sincerely,

Lindsey Pennington

Posted by JB Reed 2012-05-16 07:22:52 -0400.

DIGNITY Vancouver Coming Up...

DIGNITY Vancouver presented in partnership with Vancouver+acumen and supporting Acumen Fund is this Thursday! http://dignityvancouver.eventbrite.com/

Posted by JB Reed 2012-05-22 13:30:04 -0400.

Our first client in Singapore!

Posted by JB Reed 2012-05-21 13:16:31 -0400.

ON DECK: DIGNITY Vancouver!

Even as we've added an online component to what we do at Nuru Project, live events remain an important part of our identity. They give us the chance to share our prints with new audiences in person. Since our images are ultimately intended not for lives on screens, but as physical prints on your walls, we always hope that people will respond to them even more viscerally in person.

As we anticipate DIGNITY Vancouver in partnership with VANCOUVER+acumen and in support of Acumen Fund next Thursday, May 24th, we look back at a great note we got from attendee Joe Nangle after our March DIGNITY Boston event in partnership with BOSTON+acumen:

Over the last 5 years or so, I've tried to find my place along a spectrum of business student, entrepreneur and photographer. Lately, I've spent much more of my time involved in business and school issues and my camera has started gathering dust. A big part of that was a feeling that without dedicating a life to the struggle and peril of photojournalism, one can't be an agent for change from behind the lens. Tonight, my experience with Nuru Project challenged that notion.

With a brilliantly simple business model, Nuru uses photography not only to shed light on social issues, but also to support these daring artists and deliver funding to the communities where the images were captured. To call it a great idea is a disservice, because they're executing and making change happen NOW. Nuru brings together some of my favorite things--photography, socially-driven business, and a passionate team--in such a clever way. Seeing something this great in action truly brought joy to me, and I'm so looking forward to seeing Nuru's continued success.

~Joe