Journalist Matthew Power died in Uganda
The news that New York based journalist Matthew Power died on March 10th at age 39 while on assignment in Uganda prompted an outpouring of grief from the media world.
Many fellow journalists felt a strong connection to Power, a skilled writer and reporter who not only had an enviable career writing in-depth articles from locations near and far.
Matthew Power in London 2012; Photo Bradley Garrett
Power was accompanying the British explorer Levison Wood while he attempted to walk the length of the Nile. Power was only dropping in and walking with him for a week, but you got the sense that he’d trudge on as long as it took to get the story and to understand the man he was walking with. On Monday, Power fell ill, lost consciousness, and died a few hours later. His travel companions believe the cause of death was heatstroke, but we won’t know more until an autopsy is completed later this week.
Levison Wood – Walking The Nile, March 2014; Photo Tom McShane
The Urban Explorer Bradley Garrett was supposed to meet Power at Heathrow Airport on the 17th August 2012 – Power was flying from New York and Garrett was flying from Cambodia, landing times synced. But Garrett’s plane was halted on the tarmac and he was arrested by British Transport Police, who had read his PhD thesis and wanted access to his research materials. Power waited three hours for him before deciding he had been burned and took a cab to Garrett’s flat in London…
Read what happened at Bradley Garrett’s site.
Later Power wrote a beautiful piece in GQ about Bradley Garrett, Place Hacking and Urban exploration.
Excerpt of his text Excuse Us While We Kiss The Sky at InEnArt
Matthew Power; Photo Bradley Garrett
In one of his last pieces, published in Outside, Power had traveled to Costa Rica to investigate the killing of Jairo Mora Sandoval, a 26-year-old conservationist murdered by poachers as he tried to protect leatherback turtles.