Hope & Salvation in Addis Ababa is an exhibition of photographic images by GM Spiers being held throughout July as part of the PhotoIreland Festival 2013. The exhibition takes place at the NSC Campus in Mahon situated in the heart of Cork City’s new retail and technology district (close to the Mahon Point Shopping Centre & City Gate Complex). The pictures in the exhibition are drawn from several journeys to the Kidane Mehret Children’s Home in Ethiopia in 2009 (or 2001 by the Ethiopian calendar). The photographs, digitally processed to capture the atmosphere, colour, and emotive sense of place, are intended to give a glimpse of everyday life in the city of Addis Ababa, although not in photojournalistic way, and without the normal stereotypes of images of Ethiopia. Spiers says of the work: “Every day we travelled around the city in one of the distinctive blue Lada taxis that provide the main means of public transport and we took hundreds photos. I had intended to create of series of paintings based on these photos and so I set about distilling them into images that I could use. I digitally processed the original photographs to capture the atmosphere, colour, and emotive sense of place, as well as the abstract qualities of the subjects. I wanted to show Addis in positive and unusual way and bring out a sense of its otherworldliness. They are very much a personal artistic impression and I hope they provide an unexpected view of a unique place.” A physical and digital (iBook) of the exhibition and the pictures themselves are available for sale. All proceeds from the sales of pictures and books are being donated to the Kidane Mehret Children’s Home. The Kidane Meheret Children’s Home was founded in 1933 by French nuns in a suburb of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and cares for around 150 children from newborn to age 16. Its mission is to provide love, care, understanding and education to children of different ages, tribes and religions who find themselves without a family. The home is currently run by two charismatic, totally dedicated and tireless Franciscan Sisters from Malta who battle every day to meet these goals with all the obstacles and hard choices that involves.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 13:29:40 +0000
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