On the evening of December 7th, the Shen Gallery packed its parameters for the opening of Apha (here): Documentary photography by children in South Africa. So great was the interest of these remarkable photographs, that the mass of attendees spilled out into the adjacent spaces. Teachers, students, parents, friends and participants of the community service program working in Joe Slovo shared insight and curiosity about the images. Co-curator Elizabeth Eagle suggested that John Lombardo create a short documentary of the photographers talking about their work. The result is a stunning and inspiration discussion about the empowerment creativity provides. Enjoy the film for the first time or revisit it repeatedly on YouTube.
David Ready chronicled the event for the Packer community. Take a few minutes to read his article here.
These pictures are amazing!
I think that you found a very good and creative way to put your city on the map.
The pictures are really cool. You’re really talented at this. I would never be able to take these types of pictures!
I think it’s great that you guys took action to change something that you knew wasn’t right. I think that photography was a great way to express to people, and I enjoyed looking at your work. I hope you, and the rest of Joe Slovo had a great new year, and that you keep up the great photography.
I was really impressed by the photos that these teenagers have taken. Many of them showed happiness, joy, and love for their city and land, but a lot of them showed despair and exhaustion from hard work which showed me that in our modern-day community we waist a lot and have many things given to us.
The photos that I saw in the art gallery were very impressive. The photography was very well done. I would love to come see Port Elizabeth someday. You all have such strong imaginations!
I though that the photos in your exhibit were very powerful and enhanced my knowledge of the situation in your community. I think it’s fantastic how you wanted to change something and you put that into action. The photography is beautifully done and demonstrates a real talent, which I encourage to continue to exercise. My favorite picture was the one with the kids in the polluted water. It inspired me to try to help people without clean water across the world.
Good luck with getting your town on the map!
-Sandro
I really love the photos you and you friends have taken, it was inspiring to me. I must admit I didn’t know about you’re town before this exhibit, but now that I am aware I admire you’re strength and desire to be acknowledged.Great job 🙂
You guys are great with a camera. I think your art is very creative and that you guys should keep up on your artistic mind.
I think the gallery is amazing and that the kids taking pictures should continue on because they are demonstrating the fight they have in them and the willingness to do this. Just from looking at these images it looks like a lot of effort, time, and care was put into it. What they have done is very inspiring to me and I wish I had the drive to do what they did. They have shown strength to show that they want to be known, and that they deserve to be put on the map and I completely agree. They should continue on with the work because I believe they are doing an amazing job. I am in full support of everything and again extremely inspired. Keep it going so that you can inspire more and more people in the world. This is on way that people can change the world or their community for the better. Good job to all those kids who put their dedication and effort and they should keep it up. – Zachary Pine
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed now, thanks.