STORY - Through the lens

A fork in the road of life is the theme of numerous films and songs, yet there seems no other way to describe the instant when a sixteen year old boy put away his surfing magazines and chose to travel to Cambodia to discover a new reality.

Conor Ashleigh is now 21 and pursuing a degree in Development Studies at Newcastle University; however, listening to his story makes him seem older. “In Year 11 [at St Francis Xavier’s College] I was at a talk one day, the first group ever to go to Cambodia. I wasn’t even paying attention, I was sitting reading a surf mag at the back of the room. My tutor group teacher said, ‘Hey, put that away and move up the front.’ Within a couple of minutes of seeing those photos something inside me had this sense of excitement and an eagerness to know…a sense I hadn’t had before in classrooms or on the football field. Even the way I responded was something new.” Instantly Conor’s dream changed from a Nissan Skyline to a trip to Cambodia and his car funds became his Cambodia fund. He still believes this is the best money he has ever spent.

Since then Conor has been to South Africa, East Timor, India, Cambodia and Nepal ,as an avid traveller, a passionate aid worker and an investigative photographer. After visiting East Timor instead of attending ‘Schoolies’, Conor worked three jobs to fund a trip to India. He travelled solo for six months, spending three months with Jesuit priests in Calcutta. “It was 40 degree heat everyday and you would wake up with a pounding headache.”

This was luxury compared with the indigenous village he moved to later. The temperature averaged 50 degrees and the village had no running water, no power and no one who spoke English. “After a week I was struggling. Wanting to create change is very different when you put yourself in the reality of these places,” admitted Conor.

Returning to Calcutta he became very sick and admits that after three months he hit breaking point. “I remember I was crying in the backpackers’ area using the internet saying, “Mum, I’m coming home, I can’t handle this place, I hate this place.” The guy next to me must have thought, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’” he laughs. After much convincing he decided to spend the rest of his time in Dharamsala where he taught English and lived with two Tibetan nomads who had escaped to India.

In South Africa Conor lived in a small township and worked in numerous projects including a community garden. “The township in South Africa was hard. On the first night I heard this sound and I asked what it was. The answer: ‘Oh it’s those boys smoking, drinking and fighting,’ - and I was in just a tin house.” On his last night in South Africa Conor witnessed his friend being stabbed, one of the many confronting situations he has experienced. “That was full on but the reality in South Africa is that people get killed there all the time. If you are going to be open to experiencing and to sharing everybody else’s suffering , maybe you won’t survive. I don’t think you need to become an ice queen and totally block off. I can’t just try and commit everything to relieve the problem that faces one guy in front of me.”

This is not the first time that Conor has had to escape from a situation and it probably won’t be the last. “I removed myself in Nepal during media riots where twelve journalists were beaten and one guy lost an eye. Tear gas guns were out, there were no other foreign journalists and I didn’t know where I stood.” Soon Conor is returning to East Timor to document the ten year anniversary of independence. This is possibly a very dangerous task as the stability of the country is questionable and past riots have led to fatalities. Reality bites when Conor acknowledges that he is writing a will before he leaves, something most twenty-one year olds have probably not even considered.

While studying Conor is moving towards building a more substantial base for his efforts. Balancing a student’s life with that of a traveller and photographer is not easy. It is the people he has met and the effect he has had that drives Conor to continue. “The most amazing people are the ones you leave behind, they are the ones that break you down into a little blabbering boy again. It could just be a woman who lost her husband and is struggling to deal with life. They are the people I miss and who really stick in my mind.”

It is these people and stories that Conor takes with him when talking to students about travelling overseas and helping with aid projects. “I meet myself at 16 every time I talk in schools, that is why I can understand that glazed look most kids have and that’s why I still go to schools, ‘cause I love it.” It is the ripple effect that Conor believes will lead to the better world we all talk about achieving.

Through photography Conor brings back images and tells the stories of people and places. “East Timor is one of our closest neighbours and it’s the poorest country in Asia, yet there is a media blanket on this whole region,” said Conor. While Conor is a self taught photographer his images are very powerful - and beautiful, despite the subject matter. He has shot child labour camps, unrest in South Africa and even spent his 21st birthday in the largest garbage dump in Nepal. “I am really aware of post-traumatic stress and I don’t think I have experienced it, but I believe there are moments when you need to be an ice maiden and times where you want to run back to your room and curl up in the foetal position and cry. I shot a leprosy colony in India recently and it was like that there, the first few days were really intense.”

There are still moments that haunt Conor but it doesn’t stop or dishearten him from his chosen life. “I’m not going to give this up. The reality is I’m not going to be a wedding or fashion photographer.”

Please visit www.conorashleigh.com

Jessie Brown

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