Dec
My photograph of a young boy waiting for school to begin, taken last year in Rwanda is being displayed in December as part of “The Beauty of Humanity” collection in association with SeeMe at Art Basel Miami.
Miami has exploded into a well-known destination that attracts some of the top artists in the world. From sophisticated Art Basel for the cultural connoisseur, to graffiti-clad Wynwood for the emerging muralists, Miami has something for everyone.
It’s also the time of year when 14 of Miami’s own galleries present their most compelling work. "It's a spotlight on the newest of the new. These artists are producing the best works of their career to show at the world's fair of fine art," says Robert Fontaine, director of the Robert Fontaine Gallery in Wynwood.
Designers and magazine editors attend Miami Art Week, to find current and original talent with Norah Horowitz, Art Bazel’s director of the America’s, saying “Art Basel in Miami Beach is known as the place to see the next new thing.”
My work has been selected from photographers representing 191 different countries, and will be shown at the Scope Art fair gallery.
The photograph is of a young boy waiting for school to begin. I spent four weeks in Rwanda last year photographing with the organisation DelAgua to produce a book, “Tubeho Neza - Transforming Lives Through Enterprise”, to publicize their work.
DelAgua is working in Rwanda on a 20-year programme to distribute water filters and fuel-efficient cooking stoves across the country. It has given away more than 2 million so far, with the poorest 30 per cent of the population getting them free and the remainder being able to buy them at a subsidised rate. The cookers and filters will also be distributed to local traders, who will be able to buy with microfinance loans to sell on at a profit.
DelAgua wants to develop a retail distribution network so that it can look to other useful products, such as solar lighting and soap. It is also able to claim carbon credits through monitoring the use of their products, which it sells to fund the project.
Rwanda is still recovering from the Ethnic strife and massacres of the mid-1990's, with two thirds of the population living below the poverty line.
