Uganda: tribes and civilization

Shepherd boy, Kotido, Karamoja (exhibition work)

Uganda: tribes and civilization — the seventh personal exhibition of Viktor Pinchuk, held at the Artist's House (Simferopol) from 2 to 15 June 2008.

The conception

The author's original intention — to depict the similarities and differences between inhabitants of the cities and provincial parts of African country — is embodied in the photographic collection. Most of the works displayed moments of everyday life in the Ugandan hinterland, while a few scenes of urban life are added for comparison. “Children of primeval nature or city dwellers, who impresses you?” — a question that each visitor of the exhibition had to solve independently.

Aborigines gazed from the walls of exhibition hall, captured at the moment of doing their daily routine against the backdrop of picturesque African huts and landscapes.

This period of the Crimean photographer's creativity is characterized by a mixture of ethnographic and genre photography.

Backstory

The second creative trip to Africa (part of a multifaceted author's project, in terms of holding an exhibition agreed with the Crimean Organization of the Union of Artists) lasted a month.

Author managed to get to Kampala by a shuttle bus from Nairobi, thanks to an acquaintance with a Ugandan man who arrived in the Kenyan capital to apply for a visa; from him received information, which was used as a basis for compiling the itinerary.

Karamoja is an inaccessible region of Uganda, rarely visited by foreigners because of its lack of roads. The Karamojong people who inhabit these places build their dwellings out of branches and use thorny bushes as doors, dragging them inside for the night.

The itinerary also included a visit to the Pygmies, a small community of which is located in the rainforest near Bundibugyo.

Gallery

• 
  Karamojong girl (Kotido, Karamoja)
• 
  At work (Kiru village, Abim District, Karamoja)
• 
  Pygmy women
• 
  Escape (Kotido, Karamoja)
• 
  A small, but formidable (Kotido, Karamoja)

Materials in Wikisource project

Letter of Recommendation

• Viktor Pinchuk "Medal "For Courage"

Links

• Announcement of the photo exhibition — Crimean Time: newspaper. — 2.11.2006. — № 57 (2589)
• L. Obukhovskaya «Лицом к лицу с пигмеями» (report from the photo exhibition) — Crimean Truth: newspaper. — 21.06.2008. — № 112 (24455)
• M. Samokhin «Пинчуку повезло, что его не съели» — Express-gazette: newspaper. — febr.2008. — № 6 (679)