If I don’t die today, I will marry Kristin Moore

about Aaron Huey

Sometimes it’s not so easy to put a story in a few words, so you just have to dwell on some chapters of it. Aaron Huey is a survivor photographer widely known for his 3,349 mile, solo walk across America — with his dog Cosmo. He worked in extreme places like Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan — where he risked getting caught by the Taliban and to end up “on YouTube with a knife to his throat”:

“I want to tell you what it was really like to think death is imminent, but I can’t. It’s a taste in your mouth. And an emptiness. I was thinking about not being me anymore. About not having a body. About the things I did wrong. But mostly I was thinking about a girl. I didn’t think about my family or my friends. I didn’t think about home or my dog. I thought about Kristin. All she wanted, all that she would ever want, was for me to see her as she is, to love her cleanly and all the way through. I’d been so busy loving myself“.

His effort to photograph poverty in America led him to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the struggle of the native Lakota people — appalling, and largely ignored — compelled him to refocus. He stayed with families in the most violent town on the reservation, a place called Manderson, often referred to as “Murdertown” by locals:

“It was emotionally devastating, I‘d call my wife late at night crying. I could have never imagined the living conditions that I saw. I knew the statistics about poverty, but the living conditions went far beyond poverty to even deeper, more dysfunctional problems. Black mold all over the walls of childrens’ rooms. Kids eating off the floors. Infants watching violent films on TV all night“.

Aaron also lived in villages like those of Phortse, at 3840m in the Khumbu Valley in Nepal, and Ushguli, the highest inhabited village in Europe, Georgia, where about 70 families live in an area snow-covered for 6 months of the year. He reported the isolated lives of those 200 people and their traditions as Limpari Feast, a day of animal sacrifices and an occasion for the community to talk about who has done good and bad, and what in general needs to change, or the night of Tswimnish that involves pagan rituals outside churches and the election of the “Caesar”, a character who leads toasts and is given 3 newly married women for the night. His presence with them will be a good fertility charm.

On the occasion of his frightening experience in Afghanistan, he once wrote “If I don’t die today, I will marry Kristin Moore”. Today he lives in Seattle with his dog Suki, his son Hawkeye, and his wife Kristin. He worked for National Geographic, Harper’s Magazine, The New Yorker, The Smithsonian, and The New York Times. He’s a Stanford d.School Ambassador, a wearer of gold shoes, a climber of rocks and an artist.

: Ashurah celebration in Murat Khani, Old City, Kabul. Muharram/Ashurah in Kabul. The Shia Muslims celebrate Muharram to commemorate the Battle of Karbala and consider this a month of sadness and mourning. The commemoration reaches its climax on the tenth day of Muharram, known as Ashurah. This is the day Husayn ibn Ali, the grand son of the prophet Muhammad was martyred along with his family members and friends in the Battle of Karbala. Many Shia whip themselves with knives on chains on Ashurah.

: Project Lighthouse (org out of Colorado) brings used clothes to the Reservation that were donated primarily by Christian Mega Churches. A truck carrying 28,000 tons of clothes delivered to the back yard of Rex and Darliss Crow near Loneman. The giveaway is announced to the public on Kili Radio 90.1 and open to all. After people have picked through the clothes for a few days to a few weeks the pile eventually becomes soaked with water and remains as a mountain of garbage.

: A ceremony infront of a 12th Century church in the village of Ushguli, the highest inhabited village in Europe. Pagan rituals are coupled with nearly all orthodox rituals. This one seems to be tied to Lamproba/Tswimnish and some historical event where Svans were invaded from across the mountains. Now in the weeks after Lamproba they are supposed to take turns in the village holding this pryer vigil outside the church each night. Svanetia, Georgia.

: Pakistan Pop Culture A Deepak Parvani clothing line photo shoot with three of Pakistan’s Industry Giants: Photographer Tapu Javeri, Tariq Amin (hawaiian shirt) as stylist/hair/makeup, and Deepak Parvani (light blue t-shirt) designer.

: Jano Chaksiliani, an elder in the village of Ushguli, Svanetia, Georgia.

: Sopho Naveriani (L) and Gwantsa Mchedliani (R) sing Georgian Choir songs in the Rose Revolution bar where Sopho works.

: The Oglala Lakota Nation Pow Wow (Lakota Sioux) is held every year in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, on the poorest most violent reservation in the U.S. It is a time of the year for celebration and to reflect on the Lakota culture. Many gang members participate, shedding their Tupac Shakur and 50 Cent (rappersd) shirts to dance.

: AIM (American Indian Movement) annual commemoration march from the “little cemetary” where the Lakota victims were buried to the site of the 1975 shootout with the FBI which resulted in Leonard Peltier going to prison. Leonard Peltier called the march by phone from prison while the walk was underway. Contact person: Billy Good Voice Elk Junior (605) 415 2833

: The family of Oleg Samsiani in the village of Yeli, Svanetia, Georgia.

: Kite flying, once banned by the Taliban is all the rage in Kabul. On the outskirts of Kabul young boys battle their kites, the object of the game to slice your competitions kite string sending his kite spiraling downward, while men gamble on the cometition. Kites sell for roughly US 2cents (One Afghani)