Silafando, A Gift to You on My Journey by Photographer Jason Florio

Jason Florio’s award-winning ’Silafando’ is a collection of outstanding portraits of the Alkalo’s (village chiefs) taken during a 970 km walk around the country of The Gambia.

 In this short video Jason explains why he feels that documenting Gambian chiefs was so important.  

Jason is a New York based photographer whose work I have admired for some time. He first came to my attention when, together with his wife Helen, he set out on an unprecedented journey to circumnavigate the Gambia on foot. Each night they would stay in a different village. Silafando is the traditional gift given by travellers to the chiefs of a village they are visiting. Watch the video to discover more about their journey and the exhibition.

The portraits from ’Silafando’ will be projected onto a big screen at the upcoming Photos Tell Stories exhibition, at Alliance Française, The Gambia, West Africa - opens May 16th 2014.

Acting Alkalo Herouna Tonkara. Image by Jason Florio