Karen Redding: Exploring the world around us – and the world within us
By Lynette Brasfield
Inspired in 2003 by a book entitled 1000 Places to See Before You Die, Laguna resident Karen Redding, her husband Ed and young son Adam set out to travel to as many countries as they could possibly fit into their busy lives in the following years.
They have now been to nine countries in Africa alone, and explored places as diverse as Papua New Guinea, Japan, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. They’ve enjoyed intimate conversations with people of dozens of ethnicities, each one reinforcing psychoanalyst Redding’s belief in the commonality of four human imperatives – to be safe, happy, healthy and free.
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Photos courtesy of Karen Redding
Ed, Adam and Karen
“I wanted to talk to people I didn’t know, and to explore the diversity of the human landscape,” she explained. “To visit not only the world, but the domain of the heart.”
A funny thing happened along the way. Redding found her calling as a photographer. Her stunning works of art have been exhibited in numerous galleries. Her gorgeous book, Ten Ways to Awaken the Heart: A Photographic Journey, combines text and photos to present a unified vision of the elements that unite humanity across the world.
She’ll be presenting her photographs and the philosophy that guides her travel during a presentation at the Susi Q on October 21.
“I want to make connections beyond the face, into the heart,” she emphasized. “I don’t ask why people live the way they do. I want to celebrate our common bonds.”
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Karen with Paduang woman in Myanmar
Her secret to capturing exquisite, candid photos of men and women living their everyday lives in seldom-visited parts of the world?
“For a start, I book through the country’s travel agencies. That way, your guide, being local, can decode the culture and language for you,” Redding said. “I think of my guides as parent substitutes, making sure I’m safe, that the food I’m eating isn’t going to sicken me. Also, they know their way around and there’s a comfort level with their countrymen and women.”
When Redding visits out-of-the-way villages, she doesn’t whip out her camera, take a few quick selfies and then flee back to the tourist bus. By contrast, she always plans to spend a few hours – and on occasion, several days – with villagers.
Her camera does not make an appearance until she’s established a bond with the people she meets.
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Adam and Ed with Oro Valley woman
“They’re as curious about us as we are about them. I love to engage with people on a deeper level, heart to heart,” Redding said.
In Namibia, where Himba women decorate their faces, she took the opportunity to spread the clay and butter mixture on her own cheeks, which endeared her to the tribe.
“Just be playful,” she suggests. “That’s one of the best ways to communicate.”
Redding’s willingness to experiment with and occasionally mirror the ways of particular ethnic groups does have its limits though.
“The Himba women were bare-breasted – and they indicated that they’d like me to go topless,” she said. “My son Adam, who was 12 at the time, a middle-schooler, turned to me in horror and said, ‘Mom, don’t! Just don’t!’ – and I didn’t,” she laughed.
Redding points out that Western views don’t always translate and vice versa.
“Mursi women in the Omo River Valley in Ethiopia pierce their lower lips in their early 20s and insert increasing sizes of plates to stretch out their lips,” she explained. “We might think of it as disfiguring, but they don’t see it that way.
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Mursi woman
“To them, it’s decorative and gives them a sense of pride and identity with their tribe. The same applies to the Paduang women in Myanmar, who place brass coil rings around their necks – up to 24 in one instance. I respect and celebrate their choices.”
One of Redding’s favorite trips included a two-week stay in Papua New Guinea (PNG), during which the family spent three days and nights in a small tribal village with the Waghi tribe in the Western Highlands. They enjoyed the annual Sing-Sing gathering in Mt. Hagen, which brings together 800 local tribes that among them speak 700 different languages. People share traditions, sing and dance.
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“Traveling with my son has been wonderful, often helping to establish a bond with ethnic women. At the festival, they had a little parade for Adam, who was then in junior high,” she said. “The locals made our stay so comfortable, despite the accommodations, which to Americans seem primitive, even bringing in a toilet seat to place above the commode.”
With her belief in the importance of our spiritual lives, Redding found herself attracted to the Buddhist teachings of the Paramitas, or the 10 Perfections of spiritual health, a way of seeing each other through a contemplative lens. This approach underpins the design of her book, too.
“I guess you could say that I am a lifelong learner in the journey of getting to know my own mind,” she writes in the preface. “When I was 5, I dreamed I gazed into my eyes in a mirror and asked who are you? I woke my father to ask him. He answered that I was part of everything – the ocean and rivers, lakes, mountains, deserts, sky, even the plants and insects. His answer calmed me.”
To hear more about Redding’s remarkable journeys into seldom-visited parts of the world – and her meetings of the mind and heart with remarkable men and women – be sure to sign up for her presentation at the Susi Q on Monday, Oct. 21 from 2-3:30 p.m. Here’s the link. You can also visit www.thesusiq.org and scroll through classes and events to sign up or call Christine Brewer at 949.715.8105.
