Anthony Maturin

In 2004, Anthony Maturin travelled to Cambodia to develop A Certain Grace, a book which portrays the essential human spirit that's often found in those who experience real poverty.

A reviewer decribed A Certin Grace as “a remarkable collection of photographs, beautifully displayed with an accompanying commentary. Presented in sepia they reminded me of the iconic works of Sebastio Selgado. As with Selgado’s pictures, though all these are from Cambodia, they are universal: they represent mankind’s poorest and most destitute. That the photographs are beautiful does not distract from their haunting appeal.”

While he was there, Anthony documented The Foundation's work in Cambodia, particularly in Kampong Thom and Prey Veng Provinces, for his book. 

Anthony visited eye units and villages with The Foundation's Country Manger for Cambodia, Sith Sam Ath and "was taken into people's lives in the most privileged fashion".

He particularly remembers Mak Nan, a single and landless rice planter, who lived in Steung Sen District in Kampong Thom Province.

"As a rice planter, Mak Nan is paid in rice and is allowed to grow some of her own vegetables in the rice field. Having bilateral cataracts impacted on Mak Nan's work greatly, as she could only see approximately two metres in front of her".

Fortunately, Anthony saw how quickly and easily situations like Mak Nan's can change with the help of The Foundation.

Anthony also experienced seeing other patient go through a similar life changing experience. "As we were leaving the Kampong Thom Eye Unit, a successful cataract patient who had received surgery the day before was also leaving. The patient had a red checked karma (scarves worn by rural Khmers) wound round her head, rolled bright coloured sleeping mat on her shoulder, a pair of brass-rimmed dark glasses on her nose and a grin that cheerfully revealed her two remaining teeth," says Anthony.

Anthony Maturin began his working life at age eighteen when he worked as a shepherd on "Erewhon" Station in the high-country of New Zealand's South Island.

Anthony' varied working life included occupations such as farming, building, writing and documentary making about human rights issues.

Photography became a passion of Anthony's when his mother gave him a Woolworths' camera at the age of seven. He used his photography skills for personal assignments and enjoyed taking photos while he was a farmer to give variety to his farming work.

The Fred Hollows Foundation thanks Anthony Maturin for sharing his photographs with us.

Further Information

To view more of Anthony's photos and others in our collection, please visit our photo collection.

To contact Anthony about his work, please email him.

	The Foundation's Country Manager for Cambodia, Sam Ath Sith, explains to a rural villager, Seung Vagn, that she has cataracts and is advised to travel to Neak Loeung Eye Unit for an operation. Seung is afraid of the idea of an operation, but Sam Ath explains that the procedure is quick and that she will be able to see again the next day.
	A patient, from a poor rural village, after cataract surgery.