Shelley Lasker's speech - "Exposure" Exhibition, May 2009
EXPOSURE
The first thing tonight is to thank someone who has adopted Bulawayo as his home and who continuously gives and gives and gives to us all here. Fabien, of Alliance Francaise sponsored tonight’s exhibition and on behalf of our city I would like to thank him for bringing light to us all here over the difficult years we have gone through in the last decade. There is no other foreign organisation that can match the one Fabien represents, for they regularly bring us art, culture and joy. Personally Fabien never lets me down, and I have worked with him several times over the years this man is a true man of community.
Thanks again to Fabien, his staff, and all at Alliance.
What we see this evening is the visual statement of a process. The process is the journey of two young women who stand in juxtaposition, capturing time.
One is Gabi, a native Zimbabwean who keeps on being drawn back to the land of her childhood, the magnetic force of the African soil is an inescapable part of her being.
Oria, a Canadian by birth, but a woman who has lived in some of the greatest spots on the planet, has now got the light of the African sun in her blood and feels compelled to stay and share her talents right here in Bulawayo.
Having spent time with these captivating women it soon became clear to me that both have the souls of gypsies, they love to travel - tasting, feeling and capturing the life force of the cultures they immerse themselves in, wherever they go, from Brasil to Morocco, India to Africa.
These two diverse women have been drawn together by an energy of the shared love of an art form, but more importantly the energy that resonates from their love of people, their desire to capture the essence of people and to let the innate dignity of their subjects echo for all who take the time to stop, look and find inspiration in the images we see here tonight.
I am honoured to be part of their journey and to travel with them on this adventure, this leg of the journey being home to all of us here tonight, whether you are born in this land, you have chosen to stay here, or you are merely passing through.
I have to say I was quite surprised when I was asked to open the exhibition and thought I better do a little reading, usually I am pretty good at ad libbing speeches, but the honour bestowed on me by these two dynamic women, galvanised me into putting the deserved energy into my opening address. I promise to be brief!
Photography itself is a process, a journey, and the photographer’s creative course of action is bound by the technical art of capturing still or moving pictures, recording radiation on the sensitive medium of film or more recently by an electronic sensor.
Light patterns reflected or emitted from objects are activated by the one ponting the camera, the timed exposure is carefully selected by the photographer and what you then have is a slice of life recorded for all time.
Whether the photographer’s aim is to record information for business, science, art or pleasure, ultimately the photographer has made time stand still.
Many artists and critics argue that photography is merely the mechanical reproduction of an image. If photography is authentically art, then photography in the context of art would need redefinition, such as determining what component of a photograph makes it beautiful to the viewer.
The controversy began long ago, with the earliest images "written with light". The famous photographers from the 19th Century like, Louis Daguerre, and others among the very earliest photographers were met with acclaim, but some questioned if their work met the definitions and purposes of art.
Photography is both an art and a science. Photography allows the visual artist to express feeling and emotions, but to do so they need to master the scientific part of the medium. Unlike a painter, who is in direct contact with his subject and his canvas, a photographer is separated from his subject by the camera and from his "canvas" by computers and printers today and by darkroom equipment previously.
The scientific aspects of photography can be both overwhelming and fascinating, so much so that for some photographers photography comes to be just that: a scientific process that they attempt to master over their lifetime.
However, to achieve mastery of the technical side of photography is to address only one of the two aspects of photography. The result is often technically excellent photographs that lack emotion and the "seeing" qualities that are right here before you.
The renowned photographer, Ansel Adams once said, and I paraphrase, that there is nothing more boring than a technically perfect rendering of a fuzzy visual concept. In other words, an artistic photograph is created when technique is used to express a vision and an emotion, not when technique is used for its own sake.
Exposure is an exhibition which does as it is named, it exposes a side of our country which has been lost to both us at home and especially to the outside world. The images that have dominated the media reflect a one dimensional representation of Zimbabwe’s people, the tyrannical force towering over the cowering masses. How good it is to be here and rather than mourn our nation, we are celebrating it.
I need to thank Oria and Gabi for capturing the essence of our land, the beauty that is Zimbabwe, the people who we know are brave, kind, gentle and good.
May we all be inspired to see that essence and take it home in our hearts for although life is not easy here, “He that can't endure the bad, will not live to see the good.” As Zimbabweans we understand suffering, but we also understand beauty, dignity and the real knowledge of what brings community together.
Thank you, Gabi and Oria for sharing your creative energy and insight and indeed, in bringing us together.
The first thing tonight is to thank someone who has adopted Bulawayo as his home and who continuously gives and gives and gives to us all here. Fabien, of Alliance Francaise sponsored tonight’s exhibition and on behalf of our city I would like to thank him for bringing light to us all here over the difficult years we have gone through in the last decade. There is no other foreign organisation that can match the one Fabien represents, for they regularly bring us art, culture and joy. Personally Fabien never lets me down, and I have worked with him several times over the years this man is a true man of community.
Thanks again to Fabien, his staff, and all at Alliance.
What we see this evening is the visual statement of a process. The process is the journey of two young women who stand in juxtaposition, capturing time.
One is Gabi, a native Zimbabwean who keeps on being drawn back to the land of her childhood, the magnetic force of the African soil is an inescapable part of her being.
Oria, a Canadian by birth, but a woman who has lived in some of the greatest spots on the planet, has now got the light of the African sun in her blood and feels compelled to stay and share her talents right here in Bulawayo.
Having spent time with these captivating women it soon became clear to me that both have the souls of gypsies, they love to travel - tasting, feeling and capturing the life force of the cultures they immerse themselves in, wherever they go, from Brasil to Morocco, India to Africa.
These two diverse women have been drawn together by an energy of the shared love of an art form, but more importantly the energy that resonates from their love of people, their desire to capture the essence of people and to let the innate dignity of their subjects echo for all who take the time to stop, look and find inspiration in the images we see here tonight.
I am honoured to be part of their journey and to travel with them on this adventure, this leg of the journey being home to all of us here tonight, whether you are born in this land, you have chosen to stay here, or you are merely passing through.
I have to say I was quite surprised when I was asked to open the exhibition and thought I better do a little reading, usually I am pretty good at ad libbing speeches, but the honour bestowed on me by these two dynamic women, galvanised me into putting the deserved energy into my opening address. I promise to be brief!
Photography itself is a process, a journey, and the photographer’s creative course of action is bound by the technical art of capturing still or moving pictures, recording radiation on the sensitive medium of film or more recently by an electronic sensor.
Light patterns reflected or emitted from objects are activated by the one ponting the camera, the timed exposure is carefully selected by the photographer and what you then have is a slice of life recorded for all time.
Whether the photographer’s aim is to record information for business, science, art or pleasure, ultimately the photographer has made time stand still.
Many artists and critics argue that photography is merely the mechanical reproduction of an image. If photography is authentically art, then photography in the context of art would need redefinition, such as determining what component of a photograph makes it beautiful to the viewer.
The controversy began long ago, with the earliest images "written with light". The famous photographers from the 19th Century like, Louis Daguerre, and others among the very earliest photographers were met with acclaim, but some questioned if their work met the definitions and purposes of art.
Photography is both an art and a science. Photography allows the visual artist to express feeling and emotions, but to do so they need to master the scientific part of the medium. Unlike a painter, who is in direct contact with his subject and his canvas, a photographer is separated from his subject by the camera and from his "canvas" by computers and printers today and by darkroom equipment previously.
The scientific aspects of photography can be both overwhelming and fascinating, so much so that for some photographers photography comes to be just that: a scientific process that they attempt to master over their lifetime.
However, to achieve mastery of the technical side of photography is to address only one of the two aspects of photography. The result is often technically excellent photographs that lack emotion and the "seeing" qualities that are right here before you.
The renowned photographer, Ansel Adams once said, and I paraphrase, that there is nothing more boring than a technically perfect rendering of a fuzzy visual concept. In other words, an artistic photograph is created when technique is used to express a vision and an emotion, not when technique is used for its own sake.
Exposure is an exhibition which does as it is named, it exposes a side of our country which has been lost to both us at home and especially to the outside world. The images that have dominated the media reflect a one dimensional representation of Zimbabwe’s people, the tyrannical force towering over the cowering masses. How good it is to be here and rather than mourn our nation, we are celebrating it.
I need to thank Oria and Gabi for capturing the essence of our land, the beauty that is Zimbabwe, the people who we know are brave, kind, gentle and good.
May we all be inspired to see that essence and take it home in our hearts for although life is not easy here, “He that can't endure the bad, will not live to see the good.” As Zimbabweans we understand suffering, but we also understand beauty, dignity and the real knowledge of what brings community together.
Thank you, Gabi and Oria for sharing your creative energy and insight and indeed, in bringing us together.
