Portraits from southeast Liberia

I spent about a week in Harper. It was an important experience for me as I try to push myself beyond taking pretty pictures or interesting pictures towards taking pictures that document and tell stories. I'm not sure I achieved that goal, but I do feel satisfied about the effort I put forth and my determination to try and be a better photojournalist.

Currently, I'm putting up more photos from Harper on glennagordon.com. Since this is a work in progress for me and I intend to go back to Harper and make additional images, comments and thoughts are most welcome.

About Harper:
Liberia's past and future have been and continue to defined by an antebellum American power structure transported to Africa. That all went up in flames - literally - during Liberia's civil war in a way that has eerie similarities to the American south and our Civil War.

Harper is an amazing place. It's a two day drive (or one hour flight) from Monrovia, and was once the capital of an autonomous state called Maryland, the original home to the freed American slaves who later founded Liberia. Now, all that's left of the power structure put in place is vestiges of burned out mansions, a stone mason temple filled with stagnant water, and tributes to a small town boy who made it big, former President Tubman.

Liberia's story is very much about its relationship to America, and how freed Americans slaves created a social hierarchy here that was an underlying factor in the two decades of destruction and war that are still very much visible today.