Mile 46

Africa has long been a mysterious and alluring continent to westerners. Author and photographer Joni Binder had been entranced with the place since childhood, so when the opportunity to travel there arose, she took itand it changed her perspective forever.

Discover why as you journey with her into a small, unnamed village near a mile 46 railroad sign to live with the proud Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania. The Maasai are one of the only African tribes who have retained their tribal customssuch as a diet of blood and milk, female circumcision, and traditional dressagainst the unrelenting torrent of Western influence flooding Africa.

Joni documented her journey with journal entries and photographs. Shown here, twenty-five years later, those journal entries are juxtaposed against a more mature voice reflecting on the significances of her experiences while among the Maasai.

Told in an objective voice that maintains a feminist perspective and remains sensitive to differences in societal and cultural norms,mile 46 is an intriguingand raresnapshot into the everyday life of the regal Maasai tribe of Kenya.

Joni Binder has a BFA in photography from California Institute of the Arts, where she now serves as a trustee. She has served as president of the Modern Art Council at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where she also served as a trustee. Joni has provided leadership as an arts education advocate in California, serving as one of the subcommittee chairs for the CREATE-CA Task Force, and nationally as a Fine Arts Committee member and Education Committee co-chair for the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. She is currently helping to leading an international arts-driven campaign with Futures Without Violence and The Representation Project to raise awareness about healthy masculinity and its role in eliminating domestic violence.