Vancouver
based photographer Douglas Curran first met members of the Chewa
people while working on a film in Zimbabwe in 1992. The Chewa
he met were migrant workers from Malawi employed on plantations
and in mines. Over a period of several years he gradually became
integrated into this community in Malawi, photographing and
filming their extraordinary rituals associated with a belief
system known as Nyau. The Chewa rituals and their masks are
part of a complex and spectacular set of beliefs that Curran
has been encouraged by the Chewa to document. Curran, no longer
an outsider to this culture, has created a stunning pictorial
record that invites dialogue about recording the lives of others,
and forces comparisons with contemporary performance art. The
exhibition will consist of photographs, video and a sampling
of masks. Curated by Bill Jeffries.
Saturday
January 8 at 3pm Talk with the
artist followed by a reception.
Saturday
January 22, 3pm A talk with Douglas Curran and UBC
Museum of Anthropology Director Anthony Shelton
THIS
EXHIBITION IS AVAILABLE FOR TOURING
