Budding photographers and creatives are invited to participate in a photography workshop, titled ‘Photography, History, and Freedom: An Exploration of Historic Moments’.
The free workshop is hosted by esteemed Portuguese photographer and anthropologist Carlos Barradas.
It is funded by Portugal’s Camões Institute for Cooperation and Language and will take place at the Namibian Arts Association from 22 to 28 November, in collaboration with the embassy of Portugal in Namibia and StArt Art Gallery.
Participants will learn the basics of photography and visual storytelling and how to create a visual narrative with Portugal’s Carnation Revolution and its upcoming 50th anniversary as a historical framework.
The Portuguese Carnation Revolution ended 48 years of a dictatorial regime on 25 April 1974.
The workshop will include practical sessions as well as the preparation and presentation of an exhibition which will open in Windhoek next year.
“I encourage aspiring photographers or artists to apply, more generally, who are over the age of 18,” says Barradas.
“People who feel they want to express their identities, concerns, and topics of interest through images, their own or archival.”
Given the continuing rise and evolution of visual culture, the workshop is responsive to the need for visual and photo literacy.
“Our relationship with the world and the mediation of it has become increasingly visual, in particular since the last century or so.
“So, that is not something that is specific to our time. What is new is the amount of images we are exposed to in our everyday lives, particularly through our mobile phones and everything that comes along, such as social media,” he says.
“In that sense, it has become more important to have an informed perspective on the uses of photographs, the way they are created, who can see them and whose interests they serve.
“We must always keep in mind that photography is a very powerful mechanism that can convey or deny specific events, places, or any other narrative, for that matter.”
Using the Carnation Revolution as an entry point to discuss images as memory, the relationship between photography and history, and photography’s role in the shaping of Namibian contemporary culture and identity, the workshop aims to generate discourse around these topics as well as assist in producing images pertaining to the attendees’ chosen subjects
“It is quite open and dependent on participants’ own ideas and work processes. My role is to help them achieve what they want to say and present it next year,” says Barradas.
“As someone who is constantly in awe of the role of photography, its possibilities and limitations, I hope I can generate the same sort of enthusiasm in those who feel that photography suits their artistic interests,” he says.
“This workshop might as well be a first step for projects that have been quietly sitting, waiting for their turn to start.”
‘Photography, History, and Freedom: An Exploration of Historic Moments’ will receive applications until 13 November.
To apply, complete an online application form available on the embassy of Portugal in Namibia’s website.
For more information, email info@startartgallery.com
– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com
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