Through photography, Donna Alberico captures the organic quality of people in their most natural environments. Her knack for making her subjects feel comfortable and at ease is apparent when you look at her pictures. Donna's personal, unintimidating approach enables her to capture the true intimacy of the moment. While working as a photographer on an archeological dig in Turkey, Donna had the opportunity to meet and photograph the people in a small farming village there. The images presented here have been chosen from this body of work. Most of the men in the area worked on the site (known as Sardis) as diggers. The women worked on the site as clothes washers; they also worked in the tobacco fields (the area derives most of its income from the sale of tobacco), as well as tending to their families and homes. The children spent the hot summer days playing games of tag and keeping themselves busy with typical childhood activities. Donna has shot for publications such as URB Magazine, Long Island Voice Newspaper and The New York Times Magazine, which featured one of her photographs from a personal documentary project in the "What Were They Thinking" section. Most recently, her work was published in Mamm Magazine, where she shot the cover of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month issue. Donna currently lives in Brookyln, New York, and is travelling through the midwestern United States working on a new personal documentary project. (January 2002)