The current exhibit at the Mesa College Art Gallery could move mountains. Twenty-six colorful high-quality photographs make up Ed Kashi’s Shadows and Light of the Niger Delta exhibit, which are part of the 102 photographs featured in the book Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta. The exhibit contains large print photographs displaying what the consequence of a half-century of oil exploitation does to its surroundings.
Ed Kashi is photojournalist, educator and filmmaker whose work focuses on social and political issues around the globe. In 2004 Kashi visited Iraq to document the result of the U.S. invasion, which then led him to the Niger Delta.
The Niger Delta is located in Africa and is made up of nine states, makes up 7.5% of Nigerian land mass and holds thirty-one million people. Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of petroleum oil. Despite the large amount of revenue made, the area is poor.
Natural gasses from the oil wells are constantly burned, creating gas flares. As photographed by Kashi, people can be seen using the stunningly large gas flares as a source for heat to cook foodstuffs and meat. The flaring increases pollution of the area and the gas flaring in the Delta is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet.
Due to the environmental and health issues that go hand in hand with oil extraction and distribution, new military forces have surfaced. Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is a militant based group of indigenous people that are fighting the oil companies. Kashi’s work includes numerous photographs of MEND, most flaunting their semi-automatic weapons from their small boats. They are working to defeat the Nigerian government’s ability to export oil. Nearly 40% of Nigeria’s oil output has been halted due to MENDs attacks and hostage tactics.
Mesa College Art Gallery director Alessandra Moctezuma is working to inform the students of this overseas issue through the exhibit. Having a large audience to express this truth of the oil industry is the main goal of Ed Kashi’s work. “The idea of utilizing his work as a tool for change,” Moctezuma explains, “this whole concept of an artist as an instrument to raise awareness about something. It’s an important goal for an artist.”
Ed Kashi made three trips to the Niger Delta, the last trip commissioned by National Geographic Magazine. The high value work that is standard in the magazine shines light onto Kashi’s quality of photos. He was fueled to publish his book after he had been illegally detained by the Nigerian military in 2006 because of false information about the permission to photograph certain areas. After four days and rigorous work done by Nigerian friends, human rights workers, National Geographic and his wife, Julie, Kashi and his local assistant were let free. He published his book in 2008.
The next exhibit the Art Gallery will have will be dedicated to Antarctic exploring. The day after the exhibition opens, TBA in March, Mesa College student, Hermes Castro, is expected to begin his journey on the Inspire Antarctic Expedition.
A gallery talk is scheduled for Wednesday, February 11th at 1:00 p.m. in the Art Gallery (D101). Thursday the 12th will include the reception from 4:30 until 7:00 p.m. in the Art Gallery courtyard followed by an Art Lecture in the LRC 435. Parking is free on reception night in the upper faculty lot. The Art Gallery is open from 12:00-5:00pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and 12:00-8:00pm on Thursday.