I am realizing a photo-art project with Portraits of Kavango under the title ‘My Past, My Present, My Future’ in Germany and Namibia. Many people in Kavango, a region (of two parts) in the Northeast of the country, especially the old ones, have very expressive faces. These faces tell stories of long lives. Experience, suffering, pride and happiness have been engraved. They tell intimate stories about the human condition just by looking at them. They are a portrait of the life in Africa’s Kavango. Visual Art is not widespread in Kavango. To exhibit faces of people from the region as expressions of the fascinating stories life tells, is envisioned as a way of using art to empower and ‘empride people.
The project is currently being realized by a group of three student fellow enthusiasts from Kavango, Mr. Ernest Sirefwe, Mr. Olavi Munkanda and Mr. Lukas Kafuro with the advice of Rundu Ministry of Culture Officer Mr. Joseph Mbambo and myself. The group has used digital 20 megapixel high-resolution cameras and has visited several places/villages all across Kavango to take portraits and collect life stories and visions of the future of people.
Six of the first series of photos which I took myself have been exhibited in Germany as large canvas prints of about 1(-1,5)mx 0,8 (-1,2)m. The pictures you see here are a first choice. They have been taken by all members of the group.
‘A Portrait of the Kavango’ is a non-profit project on a voluntary basis that is entirely designed to serve the people of the Namibia. If some of the images will be sold, the income of these pictures will be shared with the ones portrayed.
The series will be shown as a group-exhibition in the National Art Gallery of Namibia from 09. of July until 03. of August 2015.
