When was the last time you jumped for joy? If you’re like most adults, it was probably when you were a kid.
But the ability to jump for joy is still there inside us as we age – and Vancouver photographer Eyoälha Baker has spent the last couple of years helping hundreds of people locate that feeling again.
Baker has travelled the world shooting willing subjects for her Jump for Joy! Photo Project. Suspended in the air in an array of outdoor locations (including beaches, alleys, and mountaintops), the happy people in Baker’s images represent a wide range of ages and professions.
Despite the differences, they share a willingness to take a leap for Baker’s camera and revel in a moment of childlike joy.
“It’s co-creative,” says Baker over dinner in Gastown. “I’m capturing the essence of what they’re bringing.”
Baker launched the Jump for Joy! as a response to the steady stream of negative images she glimpsed every time she switched on the news.
“It was heartbreak over and over, and I thought, ‘Why don’t they ever do stories about what’s being done about the heartbreak?’”
The negative news items were compounded by heartbreak in Baker’s own life. “I wanted to feel joy again, and I asked myself how to do that.” Jump for Joy! was her answer.
To date, her jumping images have been displayed on Baker’s website (JumpForJoyPhotoProject.com), and filed away for inclusion in a future book.
Soon, however, Baker’s shots of jumping Vancouverites will grace the side of a building on Vancouver’s Eastside. Baker has joined forces with Murality, a not-for-profit organization with a mandate to enhance lives and transform neighbourhoods through public art murals.
Through Murality, Baker will create a photo collage of more than 100 Vancouverites jumping for joy. The collage will adorn a 9,000-square-foot wall at 161 E. Pender for the duration of the summer.
Baker has launched a Kickstarter to raise funds to cover printing and pasting costs; as of press time, she’s nearly halfway to her $5,000 goal.
Among the many perks of supporting the project is the opportunity to jump for joy with Baker and be part of the photo collage.
Learn more at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jumpforjoyphoto/jump-for-joy-photo-project-murality-vancouver
