Public Affairs Section and Embassy of France Host Exihibit of African Photography

On Thursday, 3 November, Ambassador Alan Eastham and French Chargé d’Affaires hosted an opening reception for "Bamako, Episode V," an exhibition of 28 prints by renowned photographers Salome Priscand French Chargé d’Affaires, Sophie Elbaz, Eustaquio Neves and Andrew Tshabangu.  The exhibit will run from November 4 to November 18 at the Public Affairs Auditorium, Old Mutual Building, City Center, Lilongwe.

The exhibit is part of a traveling collection drawn from an international exhibition of African photography in November 2003 in Bamako, Mali.  The exhibit was originally displayed at the French Cultural Center in Blantyre, and its arrival in Lilongwe resulted from a collaborative effort from the French Cultural Centre and the Public Affairs Section.

The show contains work from four renowned photographers.  Salome Prisca's pieces are beautiful formal compositions that play with chiaroscuro effects of lightness, transparency and opacity.  Holder of a PhD in Fine Arts, Salome Prisca has participated in several collective exhibitions in Martinique, Italy and East Europe.  Sophie Elbaz was born in Paris in 1960 with parents of Algerian origin. She settled in Marseilles where she entirely devoted her artistic and has done some research on organic color.  Eustaquio Neves is a self-trained photographer who conducts research on alternative techniques and mixture of supports.  Born in 1955 in Brazil, Neves likes manipulating the negative and the impressions.  Andrew Tshabangu is a famous South African freelance photographer who has taken part in the London’s Celestial Church of Christ project on religious practices in Africa and within the Diaspora.  Born in 1966 in Soweto, Tshabangu is currently working on a joint project on spirituality in South Africa and the Island of Reunion.