SEATTLE, WA.- A stunning new series of photographs taken in Bolivia by Mike Wang will debut at the Ballard Art Walk on June 10. The photographs will be mounted at Brazillis 5404 22nd Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107. These large prints in both black-and white and color document Wang's recent tour of public health clinics and ghettos, but they're anything but depressing.

Wang visited Bolivia as part of a team from Ballard-based Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), an international nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health.

Wang's portraits celebrate the hope intrinsic to PATH's efforts to improve the health of emerging nations. The story of how Mike Wang came to shoot these photos is interesting.

He'd been a professional photographer for years, shooting everything from the riots at Tiannemen Square to Hong Kong pop star album covers to children's portraits. He'd taught photography in Beijing, Taipei and locally at the Photographic Center Northwest.

"But," he said, "I was losing sight of how photography could be personally significant to me."

He took a break from taking pictures and took an office support job at PATH. After one year, he realized a new use for his talents and received an in-house grant to photograph the efforts of PATH scientists to reduce barriers to healthcare among Bolivia's poor.

With regard to his photography in Central America, Wang says, "I took pictures of a different culture as if everyone were my own family. I felt my wide experience in photography and my empathy for people's struggles come together, and it made for surprising photos."

The pictures, beautifully shot and hand-printed, portray a surprising breadth of vision. Here are the windswept high altitudes in which Bolivians struggle against the climate to scratch out tiny farms. There are photos of the crowded waiting rooms of the all too rare clinics. But most moving are the pictures of the indigenous mothers and children: joyous and stalwart; foreign yet entirely familiar and universal. Proceeds from the purchase of the photos benefit PATH. mikewangphoto.com