Of the roughly 20,000 homeless youths in New York, up to 40 percent of them are LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender). 'Sylvia's Place' originated as the vision of Sylvia Rivera, a transgendered woman, who was an advocate for LGBT rights during her life and worked tirelessly for it even while stricken with cancer. This work covers this topic.

???????????? Katrina, a natural hurricane, struck New Orleans on August 29th 2005. ???????????? Nobody envisaged the damage and destruction it would wreak on the southern US city, and it became on a much greater scale a manmade disaster of civil engineering and social discrimination. ???????????? Because of government failure, millions viewed political ineptitude, social inequity and an unpaved America where the streets were lined with anything but gold. ???????????? The images in this book show the abandoned and hardest-hit district of the Lower Ninth Ward, now over two years later, and still counting. ???????????? Vacant and dilapidated, the city is a shadow of its former self. However, in these seemingly lifeless shadows, and through the broken windows of empty houses, one can eerily see the ghostly reflections of life and death in the form of PER SONAL OBJECT S. ???????????? These intensely personal items have been abandoned and left, and in most cases, will never be reclaimed. ???????????? This small format book touches on the ephemeral, and surprisingly often beautiful, remnants of belongings that once made up the memories and precious moments of peoples' lives.

?????? Saparmurat Niyazov, President of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic of Turkmenistan, died early on 21st December 2006 in a strange new world of his own creation. ?????? His official title, bestowed on himself, was 'Turkmenbashi', or 'leader of Turkmen'. ?????? Coming from a humble orphaned background, he soon worked his way up through the Communist party, and was eventually made President of a newly independent Turkmenistan from the collapsing Soviet Union. ?????? The surreal reality that followed was a twenty-year long dictatorship, considered one of the hardest in the world, where he gave his people free salt, electricity and gas - but also the lowest minimum wage possible. ?????? Even the months of the year were renamed to pay homage to Niyazov and his family. ?????? By 2001 all internet cafes were closed and ballet and opera were banned, and in 2004, the state even forbade young men from growing long hair or beards and it was prohibited for news readers to wear make-up ?????? LOVE ME Turkmenistan is a vivid, colourful and often very humorous depiction of a country dominated by the dark shadow of its ex-leader, with full-technicolour depictions of its capital, its monuments, and its people, now released from a surreal chapter in their country's history. ?????? Each vivid image is accompanied by an actual quote from Niyazov, forming a strong and often outrageous commentary.

Examining the dynamics between subject, photographer and viewer, Fashioning Brazil analyses how Brazilians have appropriated and reinterpreted clothing influences from local and global cultures. Exploring the various ways in which Brazil has been fashioned by the pioneering scientific and educational magazine, National Geographic, the book encourages us to look beyond simplistic representations of exotic difference. Instead, it brings to light an extensive history of self-fashioning within Brazil, which has emerged through cross-cultural contact, slavery, and immigration. Providing an in-depth examination of Brazilian dress and fashion practices as represented by the quasi-ethnographic gaze of National Geographic and National Geographic Brazil (the Portuguese language edition of the magazine, established in 2000), the book unpacks a series of case studies. Taking us from body paint to Lycra, via loincloths and bikinis, Kutesko frames her analysis within the historical, cultural, and political context of Latin American interactions with the United States. Exploring how dress can be used to manipulate identity and disrupt expectations, Fashioning Brazil examines readers' sensory engagements with an iconic magazine, and sheds new light on key debates concerning global dress and fashion.