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Galleries
| 9/23/2009 12:16:00 PM Email this article • Print this article |
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A photo by 13 year old Amos Chindalu, as part of the group exhibition 'Point. Shoot. See,' up now through Nov. 1. (Photo provided) |
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First Unitarian Society offers photo exhibit
Brandi Herrera Pfrehm
What constitutes a story? Is it found in the long-form narrative that weaves its reader through a series of events, each one building off the other, sometimes giving life to numerous plot lines? Is it the outcome of a news article or broadcast? Or can it be found in a few stark lines of verse whose figurative language plays the role of storyteller?
Many believe it's possible for a story to be created within, and told through, numerous mediums: prose, verse, visual art and music. Whole worlds might exist within one still image captured by a photographer's lens. Based on the varying perceptions of those who view it, an infinite number of storylines can be attributed to the image's subject.
Those featured in Point. Shoot. See - a photographic exhibit on display at the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca - tell the stories of 12 Zambian orphans living and going to school at the Chishawasha Children's Home outside Lusaka. For three weeks in 2007, NYC-based photographer Klaus Schoenwiese led a workshop to teach the children of Chishawasha how to document their lives with nothing more than a camera and the desire to tell a story. Schoenwiese, who worked with Chishawasha's sister organization the Zambian Children's Fund, also received backing from the famous Kids with Cameras nonprofit which served as the basis for the 2004 documentary film Born Into Brothels.
He began by teaching the entire school, which houses and cares for 70 children, the basics of photography before selecting a smaller group of 12 children for the workshop. Said to have chosen some of the more introverted children from the school in order to "bring them out of their shells," Schoenwiese worked with the CCHZ staff to select a group that was age appropriate and gender balanced.
Set loose with 35-millimeter point-and-shoot cameras, the children were also armed with specific assignments like "three things that give me comfort," and asked to document their surroundings. And while they're from one of the most poverty- and disease-stricken nations in the world (one in six Zambian adults is HIV positive and over two million children are orphaned), they're no different than any other child: curious and with a voracious appetite for discovery.
"This workshop [was] a creative opportunity to experience their surroundings differently, to see and be seen in a different light," Schoenwiese says. "But let's not kid ourselves - they love to play, that's what they did."
Though the images on display at First Unitarian represent only a portion of the entire curated body, they're still an impressive cross-section of images. Amos Chindalu's (13) image "Class breaks at Chishawasha" is a striking shot of two children on the sidewalk, in motion, with the female figure in the foreground nearly bisected by the lens.
Another of his images depicts a young girl walking down a dirt trail toward a blue house, pulling a cardigan over her shoulders. The movement captured in many of his images conveys maturity well beyond his pre-teen years. He would like to become an accountant, but also wants to learn how to fly a plane.
Because Faustina Kumuenda's mother isn't healthy enough to care for her any longer, she now lives at Chishawasha. Her image, "Monica is bending in the breeze," captures the graceful 12 year old Monica Phiri, an avid dancer, swaying with the wind amidst a field of tall grasses. It's one of the more playful and well-composed shots of the group. She says she would like to become a doctor or a teacher and help children.
Peter Sakala Lunghu attends the school with his siblings and lives in a nearby village with his aunt and her two kids. His image, "This photo is not so good," is, on the contrary, one of the more compelling. It portrays two Chishawasha boys, arms around each other's shoulders, facing the camera head-on. The frame cuts just above one of the boys' mouths, while the other nods earnestly within full view. The result lends the image a sense of brotherly-like camaraderie. The 11-year-old says he would like to become a teacher or scientist, because he dislikes quarreling and thinks the world needs more peace.
Both of Mary Paxina Makunka's (15) parents died from AIDS. Seeing her image "Orphan dog" is like reading the first paragraph of a great novel - it hooks you from the beginning. She says she would wants to become a journalist, stating, "I like the way they inform the world on what is happening in other countries."
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The images of Chishawashan life - and the stories they tell about kids like Mary, Amos, Faustina and Peter - are no exception.
For more information visit http://www.tribeofman.com/pointshootsee or www.unitarian.ithaca.ny.us. The show runs at the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca through Nov. 1.
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 | Reader Comments
| |  | | Posted: Saturday, October 10, 2009
Article comment by:
Klaus Schoenwiese
Save the date: On Sunday November 01 at 1-4pm, a closing reception for the Point.Shoot.See! exhibition will take place at the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca (306 North Aurora Street at the corner of Buffalo street). Lunch snacks and a slide show will be served up by the ZCF Ithaca work group and Photographer Kaus Schoenwiese. A gallery talk with Klaus - and with Ithaca's own Sam Weeks - one of Chishawasha's recent on-site directors, will mark the closing of this exhibition.
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Suicide has recently come to Ithaca in a very public, and at times controversial, way. This past academic year, after three years with no suicides, Cornell experienced what is known in the scientific community as a "suicide cluster." OK, so maybe you're like me and you thought this whole JetBlue flight attendant story was good for maybe one news cycle.  |
