panAFRICAproject
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Gallery Talk and Community Reception
Join photographer Lou Jones in conversation about Contemporary Africa with Historian and Prof. Robert Bellinger, moderated by Regie Gibson, MA Poet Laureate. This community gallery event is free, but we appreciate signing up for planning purposes below. panAfricaproject Revisited Monday, March 2 6:30pm MCA Gallery "Photography can transcend time and distance. It goes beyond censorship, frontiers, borders, and removes the blinders of xenophobia. Photography so easily interprets complex things, ideas, and concepts. Photography is the next best thing to being there."
- Lou Jones On display in the gallery and around the building are large, vivid works by photographer Lou Jones, which follow his trips to 54 countries in Africa. The panAFRICAproject will leave you wanting to travel.
The exhibit is happening now through March 2, 2026 |
MISSION STATEMENT:
The mission of the panAFRICAproject is to create a contemporary visual portrait of modern Africa.
Using photography & heretofore unavailable technologies, the intention is to establish a repository of
images that represents each of the 54 individual countries, devoid of the preconceived, Western notions of
distress: conflict, pestilence, and poverty, i.e., violence tourism. We intend to document an accurate
picture of the highlights & inner workings of the most progressive 21st-century continent.
By enlisting input from local leaders, knowledgeable natives & the working citizenry, we will seek out the
characteristics that make each country, region, community, and tribe unique. With emphasis on cultural
identity, industrial progress, educational advances, medical practices, high-tech sophistication &
indigenous traditions, we will always allow internal interests to inform our coverage.
By spending an appropriate amount of time in each location, our project will focus on applying a long
shutter speed to gain access to traditional and new initiatives, as well as using a wide aperture to increase
the exposure of examples from the diverse spectrum of activities. The horizontal and vertical examination
presented by this project will lead us to spend an important time in each place.
Although there is no intention to avoid the problems when & where they are prevalent or avoid the
important tourist cliches, our impetus is to place a mirror up to the current human condition & celebrate
life as it is for those living it & all the love & innovation & balance & ordinary spirit.
The mission of the panAFRICAproject is to create a contemporary visual portrait of modern Africa.
Using photography & heretofore unavailable technologies, the intention is to establish a repository of
images that represents each of the 54 individual countries, devoid of the preconceived, Western notions of
distress: conflict, pestilence, and poverty, i.e., violence tourism. We intend to document an accurate
picture of the highlights & inner workings of the most progressive 21st-century continent.
By enlisting input from local leaders, knowledgeable natives & the working citizenry, we will seek out the
characteristics that make each country, region, community, and tribe unique. With emphasis on cultural
identity, industrial progress, educational advances, medical practices, high-tech sophistication &
indigenous traditions, we will always allow internal interests to inform our coverage.
By spending an appropriate amount of time in each location, our project will focus on applying a long
shutter speed to gain access to traditional and new initiatives, as well as using a wide aperture to increase
the exposure of examples from the diverse spectrum of activities. The horizontal and vertical examination
presented by this project will lead us to spend an important time in each place.
Although there is no intention to avoid the problems when & where they are prevalent or avoid the
important tourist cliches, our impetus is to place a mirror up to the current human condition & celebrate
life as it is for those living it & all the love & innovation & balance & ordinary spirit.
The MCA Gallery is located on the middle floor just up the stairs, and open during regular business hours: M - F, 9am to 5pm
Parking can be found behind the building or along Massachusetts Ave (please note limited availability due to our current construction project)
Parking can be found behind the building or along Massachusetts Ave (please note limited availability due to our current construction project)