September 14, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Summary: A new exhibition at Calvin College's downtown Grand Rapids gallery will feature 30 photographs from Ghana by a Calvin philosophy professor.
Full story, including high-res images for media use, see
http://www.calvin.edu/centerartgallery/106southdivision/exhibitions/2007_2008/forestandfamily07.htm
On Friday, September 21 a new exhibition of images made by a Calvin College philosopher will open at the college's downtown art gallery on 106 South Division.
"Forest and Family: Contemporary Image of Ghana" features 30 photographs by David Hoekema, who twice has served as director of Calvin's semester-long study in Ghana program.
The name of the exhibition comes from an Akan proverb that say: "A family is like a forest: from a distance it is dark and dense, but from nearby one can see that each tree is different."
Hoekema says that in his images, taken during two extended periods of residence in Ghana, he is trying to convey something of the strength and resourcefulness of a society that honors its past even while living intensely in the present.
"In the faces, the festivals, and even the fabrics of contemporary Ghana," he says, "I found a spirit of mutuality and interdependence far removed from the individualist patterns of North American life. Ghanaian families and communities help the saplings in their midst grow into strong trees, each separate from the others but part of a whole."
One of the highlights of the exhibition, which runs from September 21 to October 19, will be a reception on Friday, October 12 from 6-9 pm, honoring Grand Rapids sister city, Ga District. That reception will be held in conjunction with the Fall for the Arts gallery, studio and shop hop and will feature music and food from West Africa as well as a sale of photographs, with all proceeds benefitting the Grand Rapids-Accra exchange programs in education and ecumenical cooperation.
Hoekema is hopeful that people who attend will be drawn to the Ghanaian people, even as he has been.
"Friends and colleagues in Ghana," he says, "proved many times over that West Africans' reputation as the most hospitable people in the world is richly deserved. It is my hope that these images of places and people I have come to treasure will disclose something of the invisible as well as the visible dimensions of Ghanaian cultural, social, and religious life."
Contact Hoekema at 616-526-6750
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Received on Fri Sep 14 14:03:15 2007
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