Last Thursday evening, President Stephen Ainlay hosted a culture-filled reception in the Nott Memorial for the Mandeville Gallery’s exhibit, “African Photography: For Whose Eyes?”
The event was well attended by students, faculty members and members of the Schenectady community.
The reception gave the public an opportunity to socialize and enjoy refreshments while they carefully browsed the captivating and eye-opening featured photographs taken by notable photographers from all over the continent of Africa.
The continent of Africa was well represented, as the exhibit featured pieces by photographers from Ghana, Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, Mali, Senegal, Kenya, and Nigeria.
“Each one is even more beautiful than the next,” a fellow browser said to me as we gazed at the same enchanting Djibril Sy piece of six elaborately dressed Senegalese women gathered at a water pump holding their colorful plastic buckets.
I nodded in agreement, as most of the photos were indisputably aesthetically pleasing. However, I was not entirely sure if “beautiful” was the most fitting description.
Unable to put my finger on the appropriate adjective, I did notice the motif of change and continuity in the continent of Africa.
A large black plaque on the wall of the gallery amidst the colorful photographs elaborated on this motif, reading, “the premise of [the] exhibition is that photography is a … potent tool in objectifying what is in its lens, and that over time … the photograph in Africa has changed from being an instrument of the European colonist—to the later African studio ‘dream factories’ in the cities—to the rich and complex work of African photographers today.”
While this evolution of African photography is evident through the changing subjects and artistic elements purposefully created by the photographers, there is an underlying tone of hopelessness in this selection of photos.
Many of them encourage viewers to acknowledge the continuity of the injustices that the continent’s people and environment face.
During the second half of the event, attendees were entertained by the performance of drummers from Ghana.
They engaged the audience by filling the Nott Memorial with the sound of intricate beats that persuaded many members of the crowd to clap and dance.
Between the photography and music, each attendee walked away with a new appreciation and understanding for an often misrepresented continent that has maintained a wide-range of vibrant cultures through colonization, revolution and regaining independence.
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