What not to wear: a look at brand name clothes and the women who make them

What not to wear: a look at brand name clothes and the women who make them

H&M window display on Rue Ste. Catherine, Montreal, Canada. © Heather Stilwell 2012. I’ve had a lot of nicknames in my life, but no doubt the strangest one came in university when my roommates started jokingly calling me ‘No Logo’ – a reference to Naomi Klein’s book on pervasive corporate...
Displaced from Borei Keila

Displaced from Borei Keila

“My name Ousa. People here difficult. We want organization help. Need small clinic. No toilet here. Help people.” I had only given Ousa my notebook to write down his name, but these are the words he left me with. I met him at Oudong last week, at a site where...
Photo Exhibition @ The 1961 Gallery

Photo Exhibition @ The 1961 Gallery

In a few weeks The 1961 gallery in Siem Reap, Cambodia will officially launch an exhibition of photographs taken during my time in Sudan. A description of the work is below with official details to follow soon! Big thanks to everyone who made this possible! In 2010, I traveled to...
Legacies of War: Landmines in Cambodia

Legacies of War: Landmines in Cambodia

During nearly three decades of conflict, an estimated 4 to 6 million landmines were laid in Cambodia since 1970. War has ended, but its remnants are hidden underground, lurking in soil that is desperately needed for development. Landmines, cluster munitions, air-dropped bombs and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) pose a violent...
Amidst the Flood

Amidst the Flood

Scenes amidst the destruction caused by what has been described as Cambodia’s worst flooding in decades. Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and the Philippines have also been badly hit.
Road to Udong

Road to Udong

A few photos taken on a motorbike drive out of the city toward Udong, the ancient capital of Cambodia before it became Phnom Penh.
Pchum Ben Festival, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Pchum Ben Festival, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I set out early this morning with a group of my coworkers who had invited me to take part in Pchum Ben, a 15-day religious festival in which Cambodians pay respect to their deceased relatives. Crouched barefoot in the corner of a colorful pagoda on the outskirts of Phnom Penh,...
Latest entries
Part 2: A look at brand name clothes and the women who make them

Part 2: A look at brand name clothes and the women who make them

Left: Cambodian garment workers, Keo Nea and Nuth Sakhorn. Right: Nuth Sakhorn shows her bullet wounds after being shot a factory protest. © Heather Stilwell, 2012. Keo Nea looked so beautiful at her wedding, you almost wouldn’t have noticed the month-old bullet wound on her arm. Still, on what should have been one of the happiest...
Jakarta Streets

Jakarta Streets

Beneath Jakarta’s luxury skyscrapers and shopping malls, the city’s street life is what drew me in …
Cambodian monk brings his activism to Montreal's Khmer community

Cambodian monk brings his activism to Montreal’s Khmer community

Long ago in the foothills of the Himalayas, a young Prince Siddhartha left the safety of his palace and set off on a journey to overcome suffering. Upon realizing that the root of all suffering was greed, the newly enlightened Buddha dedicated his life to teaching compassion and sympathy to others. More than 2,500 years...
Cambodia's hidden legacy: landmines still a threat

Cambodia’s hidden legacy: landmines still a threat

INTRO: During nearly 3 decades of armed conflict, the Khmer Rouge, as well as the Vietnamese and Cambodian Armed Forces, laid an estimated 4 to 6 million landmines throughout Cambodia. The country is now at peace but the casualties continue. In 2010 alone, landmines in Cambodia injured a reported 215 civilians. 71 were killed. The...
Boeung Kak activists fear violence, arrests

Boeung Kak activists fear violence, arrests

INTRO: After intense pressure from the World Bank, the Cambodian government granted a small plot of land to a thousand families facing eviction from a lake in the center of the capital. The residents have been fighting a long battle with a government-linked development company that wants the land to build luxury housing. Already more...
Banlung, Ratanakiri Province

Banlung, Ratanakiri Province

A 12-hour bus ride Northeast of Phnom Penh and I am in Banlung, Ratanakiri Province, where a dusty village road leads to Kah Chhang waterfall.
Pchum Ben II, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Pchum Ben II, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

A few shots taken at a pagoda today as Pchum Ben continues…
Postcard from Sudan: Rebirth of a nation

Postcard from Sudan: Rebirth of a nation

By Heather Stilwell In many ways, this tiny classroom was just like any other: rows of young students looking up at their teacher, the day’s lesson displayed on the dusty chalkboard overhead. But this day was not about grammar or arithmetic. It was about the long fight for freedom. In South Sudan, it is rarely...
Independence Day

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day to the world’s newest country, the Republic of South Sudan. To show a bit of the area, below is a short collection of video clips I took throughout South Sudan and in parts near the North-South border. You might wonder why I seem completely unable to hold a camera straight, but much...
The Royal Media

The Royal Media

Leading up to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Canadian tour, the CBC News website posted an article under the headline, “Royal visit a tough assignment for world media.” I tried to ignore it. I had vowed to stop reading about the Royals ever since choking down a piece in the Globe and Mail which described...
Understanding Conflict

Understanding Conflict

Leading up to Sudan’s referendum in January, I traveled back to the Kauda radio station in the Nuba Mountains to help lead a workshop on reporting in times of conflict. Over three days of dissecting the local context and history with journalists, we discussed ways they could report to promote peace. But as much as...
The Other Side of Reality

The Other Side of Reality

The Montreal Gazette published an article today about Fabienne Colas, a Haitian actress who left Port au Prince eight years ago with hopes of advancing her promising career. After settling in Quebec, Colas was struck by what she saw as one-sided media coverage of Haiti, coverage that did not do justice to all that was...