In August 2005, Melanie Blanding was part of a humanitarian needs assessment team that was looking for ways to respond to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan and the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Because national media was heavily covering circumstances in Darfur at the time, Blanding was prepared for what she saw when the team arrived in Sudan. However scant news coverage had been dedicated to the DRC and the violence women were being subjected to there was shocking. Blanding returned to Western Kentucky University for her senior year committed to finding a way to return to the DRC and use photography to raise awareness about the gross human rights violations openly taking place with impunity against women.
Through self-funding, support from family and friends, and grants from the Alexia Foundation, the Virginia Press Photographers Association and Western Kentucky University, Blanding was able to return to Bukavu, Congo for two months during the summer of 2006. Two filmmakers, Blanding’s brother Scott and his friend Brad LaBriola, returned with her to produce a documentary on the same subject. The three lived within the gates of Panzi Hospital allowing them to develop close friendships with the women being treated there.
Since completing her project in the DRC Blanding has been traveling to deliver lectures about her work and has attended conferences to promote awareness and encourage an end to the violence in Congo. Blanding and the two film makers formed an organization called “Made Known”, an entity that serves to distribute their work and host the “Wamu Fund “ – a literacy aid program in memory of one of the women featured in Made Known’s film, Women in War Zones. The National Press Photographers Association awarded the Congo portrait series of scarred women 3rd place in its annual International Best of Photography contest. The series was also included in a portfolio for which Blanding was awarded Kentucky College Photographer of the Year in 2007. Blanding recently lectured at the Monmouth Museum in New Jersey, presented at the Americans for Informed Democracy conference in London, and has met with high school and university students in Kentucky and Virginia. Additionally she has shared her work with photography clubs and women’s and missions groups at churches in Virginia.
Blanding has exhibited her work at the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, VA, Western Kentucky University, Syracuse University London Program, and in Philadelphia, PA to promote awareness and encourage an end to the violence in Congo.
Recently she began master’s degree work in Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester, England. Upon completing her degree, she plans to continue humanitarian photography.
Melanie Blanding is affiliated with Made Known, LLC (http://www.womeninwarzones.org).