Jane Mahoney
PROFILE: PORT VILA (QUT News / Pacific Media Watch): Ben Bohane’s career wrap sheet is a resumé with never a dull moment – a career memory spanning more than 20 years across many parts of a troubled globe.
The renowned photojournalist, who now lives in Vanuatu, continues travelling, reporting and above all documenting his exploits with galleries of arresting pictures.
Returning to Port Vila this month after his latest journey abroad, Bohane spoke with visiting journalists about his passion for the Pacific and his career in news media.
Bohane began his journalism career in the late 1980s with a cadetship at Stiletto, a Melbourne-based alternative lifestyle magazine that he describes as a “punk-street-rag”.
He undertook his first major assignment in 1989, at 19, covering the withdrawal of the Vietnamese army from Cambodia, which marked the end of a decade-long conflict.
He remained based in Indochina for four years, where his growing interest in photography both provided the means to produce neatly packaged freelance, and peaked an interest in social justice.
“I thought if there was more reporting on certain issues, it might have an impact and might help change. I don’t live under those same illusions, however the motivation is still there,” he says.
Interviewed Francis Ona
In 1994, Bohane covered the Bougainville War in Papua New Guinea and secured the first images of Francis Ona, the leader of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA).
During this time he first observed how Australian and New Zealand news media give little coverage to issues in the South Pacific, despite proximity, economic ties and major aid programmes supported by Australia and New Zealand across the region.
“When I came into this region I realised there were all these other incredible stories going on, some of which Australia was directly involved in and people had no idea,” he says.
The realisation marked a change that saw Bohane eventually base himself in Vanuatu. Today, he markets high quality pictures and reportage on the Pacific through Wakaphotos, an agency he set up with some partners.
Bohane also works as communications director for the non-governmental agency Pacific Institute of Public Affairs (PIPP).
He still laments Australia and New Zealand’s lack of broad involvement in the South Pacific region.
“I think we do neglect it, I think the media neglect it”, he says.
Crucial changes
Many crucial changes are being identified by the PIPP, he says, which can go unnoticed despite occurring on Australia’s doorstep; sometimes deep problems in economic development or human rights. “
Most of these countries are 30 to 40 years down the track from independence and frankly the political structure as it exists is not really working well,” he says.
Though these comments refer primarily to Fiji, just now coming out of another period of military rule; he finds signs of growing disenchantment with the electoral process in many parts of the Pacific, particularly amongst younger voters.
Ben Bohane has spent the last two decades championing issues concerning the Pacific and has published two photo books on the region: Following the Morning Star was published in 2003 documented the West Papuan struggle for independence.
His second book, called The Black Islands –Spirit and War in Melanesia, was published last year and investigates cultures, cults and conflicts across the Pacific.
After finding it difficult to garner support or interest for issues of the South Pacific amongst Europe and America publications, Bohane joined with other veteran photographers to compile their photo archives and founded Wakaphotos, he says the first ever Pacific photo agency.
The collection, says Ben Bohane, aims to portray the Pacific as more than just tropical sunsets and give depth to the lives of those who inhabit the region.
“It’s about making sure you can draw attention to really import issues and being witness to the impact of ideas on human beings.”
Jane Mahoney is a member of a Queensland University of Technology student journalism bureau team reporting on the Pacific. The team was based at the Pacific Media Centre in Auckland for a week.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
