AMLT the beginning

Introduce yourself
My name is Jose Antonio Villaran. I was born and raised in Lima, Peru as a bilingual and bicultural human being. My father is Peruvian, my mother is Mexican American. She raised us in the English language and exposed us to American culture, while growing up in Lima surrounded by Peruvian culture and speaking Spanish. I write, think and dream in both languages. I graduated from the creative writing department at San Francisco State University in 2005, and published my first book of poetry in December of 2006, “la distancia es siempre la misma”, in Lima. In June of 2007, and together with two other artists, I opened the cultural/art space “La Maquina”, which serves as a platform for emerging artists, writers, sociologists, to showcase their work, also here in Lima. I am currently finishing my second book of poetry, “el cerrajero”, which is bilingual. Matter of fact, this project (AMLT) began originally as that book’s last section.


How did your poem/sticker project begin?
I feel writing isolates you, the practice itself requires a certain level of solitude, which is funny because I always felt that writing responded to a need to communicate, to express, to establish a dialogue with the surrounding world. I wanted to find a way to use my creative process as a writer to engage the world in a project that reinforces the value of cultural activities, as well as their accessibility at a massive scale. I wanted to communicate with as many people as possible using simple and understandable instruments.  I wanted to do something new and different, something I hadn’t done before, play around a little. I thought of using different media, stencils or graffiti perhaps, which I love, but felt that for many people these artistic expressions are still seen as some sort of transgression, which is very unfortunate, but a reality nonetheless. And seen as how one of my objectives was to communicate with as many people as possible, I figured I needed to consider other alternatives. Stickers are usually seen as fun, harmless objects, even despite of the message they convey. Almost everyone will accept a sticker, or at least that has been my experience. The idea of dismembering a poem and distributing it around to see what came back has been with me for a while, although I never figured out a way to actually make it work. I’m not even sure how it all clicked, but somehow it did. Following through with these objectives it occurred to me that I could dismember a poem into verses, make a sticker of each verse, hand the stickers out like crazy, ask the people to stick them somewhere, take a picture of them, and send them to me via email. I could then make a selection of the images, and use one image from each sticker to reassemble the poem back into book format. The original idea after all, was to always return back to the page.

Have you done similar projects in the past?
I have always worked in and around the page, and to be honest, I still see this project as part of my writing process, as a literary project, although it uses different media and platforms. I still feel like I am writing, it’s almost like being able to write a verse down every single time and in every single location where a sticker is placed around the world. It’s an awesome feeling. But to answer the question, no, I have never done similar projects in the past, however, I have now some new ideas and new projects that I would like to work on that seem to be leading me away from the page and towards the use of other languages, or better yet, of other ways to communicate and engage with the world.
 
What is the next step for you?
AMLT has grown beyond my wildest expectations. Altogether, I printed about 35,000 stickers, and I honestly never thought there would be stickers in more than 19 different countries, or that the project would have the active participation of more than 60 different individuals so far. I am thrilled that people have responded so positively to this project and that they have been so willing to participate and give life to this idea. As I mentioned before, this project is part of my second book of poetry, but it now has a life of its own. I have been talking to some friends who are helping me to organize this project into an art exhibition format, which will hopefully happen sometime early next year. So ideally, I will present my second book of poetry and the art exhibition for AMLT on the same day. That’s my goal right now, to present both projects on the same day, in order for the people to realize the different aspects permeating my own creative processes. I already have a second AMLT project cooking in my head, similar to the first one in the sense that it strives to engage the public in an exercise that reinforces the value of cultural activities and promotes social cohesion, but it’s dramatically different to the first one and does not use text or writing at all, but rather a different type of language and media altogether. I hope to be able to begin with this project sometime around February – March of next year, so I will keep you posted on how that goes.  
 
Who or what inspires you?
Every single second of every single situation, the enormous human capacity to seek understanding, to come together despite all differences, to transcend and transform our environment positively. I believe in humanity, and am constantly in awe at the potential enclosed within every single one of us. I am inspired by people who dare to dream, people to take the risk of becoming their true selves, people who are not afraid to fight for what they believe in. As trite as it might sound, I do still think like this.

Visit the "AMLT el comienzo" blog here.
See more images at Flickr here.

Gerhard Bandiola

Introduce yourself
I'm Gerhard F. Bandiola, Filipino at 37 and married and with a 4 yr old son. I run a small company called mbl creative solutions which is my day job and engages in Modular Systems Furniture. I'm a part-time Photographer/Lomographer. I'm also a Volunteer for www.rockedphilippines.org. I'm part of their core group.

How did you get started on the film-swap thing?
 There was one time i came upon a very interesting photo in multiple exposure by golfpunkgirl here in flickr/Lomomanila and was really amazed with her collaborations with other enthusiasts all over the globe. I eventually stumbled upon this group called FILM SWAP and started to do projects with other Photographers.

What's your favorite swap?
All my of my swaps are my favorite. Honestly. Every roll i get or send out gives me this thrill and excitement i always get from Film Photography. But this time you are sharing what you see and feel.

What are you shooting now?
Most of my cameras are loaded with film and i take them all everyday and evrywhere i go. But my priority is this project called OLD FILM PROJECT A certain gentleman from the US named Dan Whitman stumbled upon a basement loaded with tons of b&w films and was generous enough to come up with a project to share the rolls for free all over the globe and shoot themes all at the same time. I was lucky to be part of it. And now i'm shooting my second roll for the project.

Who or what inspires you?
Who? My family ofcourse. My wife has been very supportive with my passion in Photography. What inspires me? My wife knows i really really love Photography from way way back. Even those times that i don't even own my own cameras. I have photo submittions in APUG.ORG like years ago taken with cameras i borrowed from friends. Slowly in time i save up a little (sacrificing ICED TRIPLE VENTI NONFAT MOCHAS once in a while) so that i can buy 2nd Hand cameras and films.

My favorite Photography Quote "And if these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it's this: I was here. I existed. I was young, I was happy, and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture." – Robin Williams

See more of Gerhard Bandiola's pictures here

Ahoura

"You can call me CK1"

Jamal Penjweni

Phyu Mon

Raed Issa

Sohrab M. Kashani

"Soso"

Wakil Kohsar