       Amy Bardi’s touching and unique photograph taken in Zambia, Africa evaluates how women in less fortunate countries are able to pursue tasks to strengthen their self-images through actions of women empowerment, while proving the stereotype of being unskilled women wrong. Bardi’s photograph immediately reflects signs of encouragement and affection from each of the women supporting each other to feel like they have each sufficiently contributed to their community. The bright colors incorporated in this image represent the compassion and hopeful future of these women to become a benefitting figure others believed they could never be, entrepreneurs. Although the photographer does not provide us with the unpleasant, impecunious environment going on around these women’s lives in Africa, she does indeed provide us with a scene of dedicated and hardworking women willing to venture off from their normal day to day tasks in order to break down the walls of stereotypes and prove their skill level. Bardi’s argument emphasizes empowerment through combination of bright colors, various actions, and feminism to show viewers that uneducated, less fortunate women are capable of pursing any task they set their minds to. This image allows people to see how women in less fortunate countries are able to take a stand for who they are, and become the benefiting impact they want to reflect on in the world. 

Throughout the country of Zambia, bright colors are incorporated into communities to represent hopeful futures and to express unity, which is exactly shown in Amy Bardi’s visual text, Our Impact. The variations of the vivid green, red, and distinct yellow allow viewers to foreshadow how the women wanted to give off signals of being protected and cherished, even with all the harsh and unpleasant obstacles going on around them. One can clearly visualize that a single color does not overrule the picture or present a clear focal point, resulting in the integration and harmony of this community of women; the multitude of shades and tints shows the concept that everyone in this room is treated equally, willing to work together in order to grasp self-awareness of women empowerment. Although a few neutral colors are contained in this photograph, it brings up a significant contrast for how everyone has to work their way up in life; everything is not handed to everyone on a silver plate, depicting how these women want to make an impact in society to gratify their hard work and determination as business women. 

When Bardi stood in this room of Zambian women, took out her camera, and clicked the button to take this intriguing photograph, she had a much higher intention than most would consider from just taking a glare at this image, the act of entrepreneurship. The woman closest to us in this photo carries out the action of entrepreneurship that Bardi was pushing to show; she has been taught various tasks such as cutting and sewing fabric to make items such as headbands and bracelets in order to prove to her surroundings that she is capable of learning new tasks, just like everyone else blessed with more plentiful resources and education. Even though the background of this image slowly begins to become blurry, almost seemingly drawing attention away from the photograph, one can still clearly see that the other ladies are constantly working and on task, which is what Bardi wanted to prove from this piece. Faces of perseverance and devotion are shown on all four women surrounding this scene depicting that they are fully committed to making a mark in society, along with giving others the gift that they are experiencing. “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”, accurately represents the theme of togetherness and community throughout Bardi’s Clothed In Hope business, which was created with hopes of empowering vulnerable women through tasks as one can see in this image. This specific quote explores to readers that the women of Zambia believe that people overlook this concept on a daily basis, the concept of giving back. Since these women have already been taught how to make multiple items to sell to the United States like wallets and accessories, they now want to share their skill set with the rest of their community in hopes of unity and success, which these women believe life is all about.  

Bardi’s intention to exhibit human success in the world, no matter what race, sex, age, or education you are, is made evident in her photograph Our Impact. Feminism plays a big role in this photograph because men in Zambia and other places around the world believe that women merely exist to carry on a few basic tasks: have children, cook, and clean, which is completely false. This photograph allows readers to draw up conclusions that these hardworking women can in fact do whatever task they set their minds to, proving the stereotype wrong. All four dedicated women here show us that life is not always cookie cutter easy, they show us how hard work goes a long way and will later pay off in the long run, clearly exhibiting determination. Even though not all people are able to go to less fortunate countries and see the horrible scenarios these women are circled with, people can see here that those obstacles are not a problem for these women and will not stand in the way of proving what they stand for; hope, dedication, and unity. The designs on the multitude of fabrics evident in the image symbolize this awe of togetherness because the variation and texture of single lines visualize how everyone is different and dependent, yet these single lines all come together as a group to represent a community of trust and encirclement of relationships for life. 

When Amy Bardi started her business of Clothed In Hope, she began it on the basis of empowering women in Zambia through education and economic opportunity, which she shows vividly through the various amounts of photographs taken on her journey. Our Impact, in particular, plays a significant role in her theme of empowerment since it withholds interpretations and assumptions that readers can pick out to symbolize how hard these women work to distinguish themselves as not only knowledgeable women in society, but also as women of entrepreneurship. This company has made such a great impact across the nation to the United States that it now sells wholesale, has pop up shops, and has thousands of dollars being donated to women in Zambia monthly, all dedicated to helping empower women and show them their self-worth, which is breathtaking. Bardi’s images from Africa serve to provide her image of life for these women through determination, skill, relationships, and most importantly trust within a society. 

 