Dear friends, today I need your support to continue The Atlas of Beauty. The last 15 months have been really difficult. Because of the pandemic I couldn’t work properly on the project and I lost funds and opportunities. Now the borders are opening and I need to travel to many challenging destinations to finish the work on my second book. But funding the project became a huge burden because of the pandemic and I decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign. If you enjoy The Atlas of Beauty and if you think the world needs such a project, I hope you will consider donating for its future. It would help enormously.

https://www.okpal.com/support-the-atlas-of-beauty

Thank you so much!

I took this photo last month in Kulob, Tajikistan. This kind of embroidery called Chakan is widespread in this Central Asian country and is part of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. Maliks, Nizoramo and Sharafnisa learned these splendid, complex handicraft from their mothers and grandmothers and taught it to their daughters. More and more robots, computers and machines will take our jobs, so will these fabuolous handicrafts like Chakan survive? That’s impossible to predict. I personally feel privileged that I can still witness these traditions and share it with you.

Mahal Wak is an award-winning actress and activist. I photographed her last week, in Kabul, Afghanistan.As an actress, she loves to play roles dressed in traditional Afghan outfits. If you look at the Afghan jewelleries, dresses or carpets you would see some of the most colourful and playful motifs. That’s the real Afghan spirit, but over 40 years of war have been putting it to the test.Through her work, Mahal wants to bring that spirit back while sending some light in the bitter lives of Afghan people. In a country devastated by war, in a city were horrific bombing attacks and target killings occur every week, there are still corageous people like Mahal who chose to stay, believing in a better future and standing up for it.

I’m now in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, witnessing how locals celebrate Eid al-Fitr, or Uraza Bayram, how they call it here. This is the holiday that marks the end of the dawn-to-sunset fasting. After one month of Ramadan, families are gathering for delicious feasts. No wonder this market was crowded, two days ago, when I photographed Shamigul. People were preparing intensively for the celebration. Most of the sellers were exhausted of so much work and so many days of fasting, but there was a genuine feeling of joy in the air, because Eid was coming.

That’s me and my daughter Natalia, today, in the Emirates. After a few months home, we’re back on the road. During these difficult times, traveling became incredibly challenging and so became portrait photography. But as much struggles we all have, as much hope we’ll need. So I’m really happy to meet, photograph and be inspired again by the amazing women of our world, while also raising one of them.

I photographer Irina on the streets of Iasi, Romania. She loves to live a vibrant life, just as her outfit, enjoying the diversity of the world.    So far she has been to almost 140 countries, mostly on her own. Irina first travelled outside Romania in her 30s but after that, exploring the world became the passion of her life. As a gynaecologist, she had a challenging and intensive work, but whenever she had some days off she travelled as much as she could. Just a bit of context here. Traveling around the planet as an eastern European is much harder than as a westerner. That’s because you need to get more visas, you have longer and more expensive connections and also because the incomes are much lower in Eastern Europe. But all these didn’t stop Irina. When I met her she had two jobs. She told me that she even takes loans to support some of her journeys. She is now focusing on more challenging destinations, leaving the comfortable ones for later, when she will be older.  Yes, the pandemic ruined many of her plans, but she’s an optimist and looks forward with great hope. More exciting adventures are waiting. Irina, the world inspires you and you inspire us.

Zsuzsa is an ethnic Hungarian from Transylvania, Romania. Since she was little, she was dressing traditionally every Sunday to attend the church where her father was a priest. In some Eastern European villages, houses have a special room where valuable traditional dresses, linens, and housewares are kept and exhibited. In the old times, all these were the trousseau of the brides.   The world has changed. Zsuzsa is an IT specialist and lives in a big and modern city. But she still comes often to her parental home, in this small village, and wears the beautiful outfits inherited from her ancestors. It’s not just a way to honor her family, but also her passion.

Happy International Women’s Day. May we all be inspired by the amazing women of our world. One of them is Camila. I photographed her in 2019, in New York City.  Just a few years ago Camila was a housewife, taking care of her two little children. One day, without any prior notice, her husband decided to leave her for a younger woman.  So Camila found herself alone, in her 30s, with two children, no money and no perspectives. Was she broken-hearted? Of course, who wouldn’t be. But Camila decided to move on rapidly, when so few would have the strength to do so. She had a dream for a long time and that was the moment to fulfil it. She applied to the Police Academy and she was accepted. Camila was the oldest in her class, a woman in a field dominated by men. But all that made her even more ambitious. Now, at 37, after years of struggles, she is a respected Police Officer and she can afford to offer what’s best to her children. What a woman you are, dear Camila! In a field known lately for so many abuses, you bring light and hope.

I took this photo a while ago, in Havana. Cami is more than a DJ. For many years she has been going from door to door, around Cuba, talking to people about the music they love and collecting old records from them. She has been mixing this music in surprising ways, animating the dance floors with tropical, tribal and latin rhythms and bringing the lost, forgotten music back to life. Cami is the kind of DJ who never drinks and never takes anything before and during performances. Her passion and joy are more intense than anything. Born from a Bolivian father and a Cuban mother, Camila is in love with diversity and music is her way of bringing together the beautiful cultures of the world.