Ghana: The Land and Beyond is a 30-piece photography exhibit based on two months of work I completed in the summer of 2001. In addition to taking photographs, I was working with an AIDS education team touring villages along the coast. Photography can often be one of the most gripping art forms as moments of actual life can be frozen, and then transported for others to share. Africa is one of the least studied continents and offers a lush landscape of untapped resources, unexplored treasures and remarkable people. I found Ghana to be a perfect and willing subject for a photography project that would attempt to offer insight into a community so foreign to most Americans.
The most incredible thing about Ghana is the ease with which a breathtaking sunset can take place over a poverty-stricken village, the way a five-star-resort-quality beach could be strewn with malnourished bodies and parasitic water. Needless to say, against the harsh reality of a $300 per capita income, an extremely high illiteracy rate, and an almost complete lack of medical supplies and personnel, there still exists a vibrant community of families and neighbors challenging Western ideals of materialism and "wealth."
Africa in the 21st century can not be thought of without recognizing the devastating, daily impact of AIDS. AIDS in Africa is a symptom of a much greater disease of neglect, mismanagement, and social malaise. From a photographic standpoint, I wanted to frame this landscape, curbed by the impact of AIDS and poverty, and see what would truly rise from the land, what would manifest itself in the faces of a people, what would come before the lens, present itself, and whisper into the mind of a viewer.
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
||
|
||||