Niger
A young beauty looks back at the camera with pride Going to a wedding adorned by traditional henna tattoos Her best dress slipped over her slender body carrying the offerings Perfect colors in a perfect match, no need for glossy magazines The writing on the wall is a reminder of the trivial side of Eden […]
The long African journeys start at dusk Taking advantage of cooler yet still hot times Dimly lit machines hit the road in a flurry Destiny stands on the roadside to hike a ride It will leave you at a crossing or in a bend Or it will follow you to your destination Photo Hugh Ardoin […]
Symbols come to life as they cross the emptiness of deserts Rivers are along silvery snake-like ribbons called Styx It makes you wonder on which side is life What holds such value so we pay the ferryman Leaving our body on the shore, is this the beginning or the end ? Beauty is the power, […]
The horizons of the Red Planet are so vast That the passing of time becomes imperceptible Nights follow days in their long slow caravans And as days follow days the wind from the skies Chase the cloud’s shadows on the ground And steal the footsteps from the sands Photo Hugh Ardoin The Red Planet Gallery
A mottled tropical sky quickly turning purple The dust of a long hot day settles above the trees The Saharan night will come like the flick of a switch And the Southern Cross will light the sky for the lost traveler Eternity rides camelback across Africa with the long salt caravans Photo Hugh Ardoin The […]
Last minute shopping before dark The golden hour is in the purple blue phase Tropical night will suddenly drop like a curtain Birds will go silent as the frogs pick-up the music The unnerving hum of hungry mosquito hordes Photo Hugh Ardoin Niamey Dusk and Dust Gallery
Stalls crumbling under an avalanche of fruit and greens The Garden of Eden’s open gates and a wireless social network Seen from the Western colonial pedestal, Africa was the beggar in rags Now they enjoy the freedom and the food that Europeans queue for Imagine Southbound boatloads of asylum-seekers crossing the Mediterranean As The Book […]
Away from the Western selfish materialist societies Where confinement is made possible by individualism Where a two persons gathering becomes a legal limit And lockup has a meaning only because of the locks Exceptionalism is the disease, fortunately less contagious Self-isolation is just an acute form of Narcissism This ignorance may save the ‘invisible’ part […]
Camels, taxis and oranges, here is the capital’s life Light traffic at no peak on the Niamey avenues The sand is everywhere on the road in your hair and in your eyes Even the famous spicy roadside grilled chicken has some grit Photo Hugh Ardoin The Niamey Streets Gallery