The Izwe exhibition featuring the works of South African photographers in a prestigious venue in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A collaboration between Africa Media Online and Proyecto 34°S, this six-week exhibition provides a mix of emerging and established photographers with the chance to share their views on Contemporary African Culture.
Proyecto 34°S is an artistic exchange between Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Cape Town, South Africa. Its primary objective is to promote and facilitate the exchange of African and Latin American performing arts, culture, heritage and literature. Curated by Nadia Strier, the Izwe de Africa exhibition features as part of the South African Embassy’s heritage showcase at the Centro Cultural Borges, as well as online at Africa Media Online, where buyers will be able to select and purchase art prints.
Each of the photographers was asked to describe how their photographs reflect their views on the theme. Tammy Gardner, whose image is of a young man striding with his briefcase before the crumbling façade of The Empire building in Muizenberg, on the False Bay coastline, sums up the overall tone of the exhibition in her commentary:
“The obvious statement of crumbling Empire in Africa, the dilapidated building still showing its beautiful design form, the optimistic morning light, the purposeful stride of the black man with his shabby clothes and briefcase. A perfect metaphor for the complexities of African life as we know it today – not so shiny, not so picture perfect, but hopeful, working with what we have.”
Africa Media Online is a South African organization that specializes in giving African photographers a voice and an opportunity to compete on equal footing in international markets. “A balanced view of Africa and her rich heritage cannot exist unless we as Africans are able to consistently tell Africa’s story from our perspective in the global information economy,” explains David Larsen, Director of Africa Media Online.
Larsen refers to Africa Media Online’s role as the provision of a ‘digital trade route’ – this includes training, the provision of online systems and an image library that markets content directly to editors and publishers, curators and art directors around the world. Now this exhibition launches yet another platform that the company will be providing: the opportunity for international buyers to select African images online and have art prints delivered to their door.
The exhibiting photographers are:
Sean Wilson, Marinda Louw, Kim Thunder, Christine Nesbitt, Simone Scholtz, David Larsen, Jeremy Jowell, Karin Duthie, Craig Urquhart, Chris Kirchhoff, Nikki Rixon, Tammy Gardner, Clare Louise Thomas and Toni Jade Efune.
Six of these fourteen photographers were a part of the African Photo Entrepreneur Programme run by Africa Media Online in 2008, which was focused on growing photo entrepreneurs to compete on the global stage in terms of photo production and market savvy.
Right Click to download PDF slide show of the exhibition
For further information please contact the Media Manager, Dominique le Roux: +27 21 788 6261 or +27 82 823 0460 dominique@davidl637.sg-host.com