Please send comments, questions, stories and helpful references directly to:

Many stories can be told concerning these photographs. We hope those who were present when the photographs were taken will contribute some of their memories, sharing them with us on this web site.

Some of you may have reports and photographs about how life has changed in the Simbai Valley since we were last there. We look forward to receiving news from the area now.

Still others may have lived in similar areas, and will have relevant stories to share.

How can we think about lives which were lived in almost complete autonomy from the global economic system, compared to our lives today which totally depend on the global economy?

June 19, 2010 from Mark Eby, Papua New Guinea

"I love your website. I spent some time tonight navigating it and it's really fascinating. There's many sections I love but the conversation between you and Marek about holding the young boy's hand and striding out in front of the group is wonderful.



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  "I wanted to see the other photos you were discussing in that conversation. My only critique would be that I wanted to see more photos. It would be great to see at least one photo on every page of text and each page of text correspond with an additional page that just had photos and subtitles. But maybe that's just because I'm so "visually oriented."

"In regards to the ethics, people here in PNG love to have their photo taken. Everyone has cameras now, either on their cell phone or cheap digital cameras and every occasion is well documented. Quite a change from the 60s! Having your picture taken is considered a compliment."

April 21, 2011

Dear Mark,

Thank you very much for your message. I had to finish the archival process before I could get back to savouring the photographs and composing new stories. Your request for "more photos" encouraged me. The technical advances since the website was started in 1999 have also allowed me to put in many more and larger images. I look forward to hearing what you think. I'm delighted to hear that photos have become such a normal part of life in Papua New Guinea nowadays. I do wonder, however, when this web site will be able to reach the people in Gunts and neighboring villages in the lower Simbai Valley. I should think they are still beyond the range of internet reception. At any rate, I hope the people who see our photos will consider them to be compliments! All the best, Allison

         
 

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