Audrie Garrison | Oct. 23, 2011
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| Photo by Jim Kelly |
| Jacob Otieno in the gallery near one of his photos of then-Sen. Barack Obama greeting his grandmother in Kenya in 2006. |
Related |
| Update: Miss the gallery talk? Meet the photographers at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in the Ernie Pyle Hall lounge, where they will talk about their work and field questions. |
The photography exhibit, “African Lens: Photojournalism of Africa by Africans,” features the work of Jacob Otieno of Kenya and Djibril Sy of Senegal, and is part of a weeklong celebration of IU’s African Studies Program’s 50th anniversary.
The celebration spans departments as well, with journalism associate professor Jim Kelly and comparative literature professor Eileen Julien organizing this exhibit and bringing the two photographers to IU.
“We were very interested in the idea of representation of Africa by Africans,” Julien said at a reception at the gallery Thursday evening. “This project is about representation, who represents whom.”
Otieno’s and Sy’s photos show varying aspects of African life. Otieno, the photo editor of The Standard newspaper in Nairobi, Kenya, has covered every recent major event in Kenya, Kelly said. His photos in the exhibit range from coverage of a visit from U.S. president Barack Obama to visit his grandmother when he was a candidate to the 1988 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya.
Sy, a photographer with the Panapress news agency, in Dakar, Senegal, aims to show aspects of African life other than tragedy, Julien said, and many of his photographs portray celebrations and ceremonies, life in a fishing village and the daily work of salt miners.
Otieno has been a part of the IU School of Journalism community for several years, working with students who travel to Nairobi for the summer travel course Reporting HIV/AIDS in Africa. Kelly said he first met Otieno about five years ago when Kelly was giving a workshop in Kenya and Otieno was a student.
“I feel a part of this university even though this is my first time to come here,” Otieno said, adding that he keeps in touch with the journalism students he meets over Facebook.
Otieno said that when the journalism students visit, they find a different atmosphere from what they’re used to in the United States, and their perspectives of Africa always change before they leave.
Otieno and Sy are on campus for two weeks, Kelly said, and will give guest presentations to journalism students, the Indiana Daily Student and journalism students at Greenwood High School. They also spoke to civic groups in Bloomington and appeared as brown bag lunch guests for the African Studies series.
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