Fascinating Africa (for adventurous travelers)

This beautifully illustrated program demonstrates ways in which the power of photography can support the conservation of Africa's rich natural spaces and help to empower the peoples who live in them. The speakers are renowned South African safari leader and conservation photographer Shem Compion and award-winning local image maker Mark Overgaard. A popup exhibit of Mark's images will be on the walls of the auditorium throughout the event.

Doors to the venue open at 6:30 pm, with an opportunity to meet and greet the speakers and your fellow attendees, enjoy the popup exhibit. After the formal program ends about 9 pm, guests will have further time for individual and small group discussion with the speakers and additional perusal of the popup exhibit until about 9:30pm.

The first presentation, by Shem, is entitled "Uncharted Africa" and starts at 7pm. While many visitors to Africa choose the ever-popular traditional locations, there are a number of new destinations that are safe and accessible, while also offering opportunities to visit and support less-frequented parts of the continent, experience distinctive cultures and exceptional natural ecosystems. This is the Uncharted Africa that Shem will share with you.

In the second presentation, Mark will introduce you to a very special, also less-frequented, destination: deep southwest Ethiopia and the Suri people who live there. He'll share arresting images of his Suri portrait collaborators and stories of their fascinating culture, including their beautiful body painting with intricate patterns, using natural pigments ground from local rocks and mixed with water. Mark will give special emphasis to the recently launched Suri mother tongue education and literacy initiative, its importance to the Suri, current status, future plans and crucial needs.

Another well known photographer and safari leader, Piper Mackay, who does extensive work with the Suri, has just started a campaign with her community to encourage support of this new mother tongue education initiative. You may be interested in her just-published and very enthusiastic blog post about the importance of this initiative and how readers of the post can support it; see the post here: https://bit.ly/3J7aOZN.

Complementing Mark's talk, the popup exhibit will include framed images from his 2nd generation Eloquent Suri of Ethiopia series on the walls of the auditorium throughout the evening. These pieces will be drawn from the first public exhibit of this work, which will have just closed in Cupertino. Proceeds of sales from the popup exhibit will go to support the new Suri mother tongue education and literacy initiative.

If you or someone you know is a keen photographer with potential interest in an African adventure, please consider our companion afternoon program: "Fascinating Africa (for keen photographers)", also posted on this same events page. The afternoon event is at the same venue and features the same speakers.

You can access a downloadable flyer for this event at following link - https://bit.ly/3IJp3DK.

Others Details

URLs:
Brochure: https://go.evvnt.com/1733391-2?pid=6581
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/1733391-4?pid=6581

Speakers: Shem Compion, Mark Overgaard

Category: Classes / Courses | Creative & Performing Arts | Film, Photography & Media