In the early days of my youth, I would dream of a land called Africa. Its land. Its people. Its animals. It was an attraction that would remain in the depths of my soul from that time forward. But it would be five decades before I would be so blessed as to plant my feet upon its soil. Little did I know that it would be a very small, very remote, very simple village in the dry, hot climate of South Sudan. A place called Lietnhom. It was in this poor, war torn, unlikely place that joy, contentment and hope were redefined. I learned that these things are not contingent upon possessions or circumstances. They are a state of the heart and mind.
The joy I witnessed in the children there was unlike any I had ever seen in a child living in the luxury of America. Pure. Honest. Full of Hope. So it only makes sense that these would be the first subjects of my first display of photography, also a dream I had as a child. This display is not about equipment or technique – it’s all about seeing. As you look into the eyes and the lives of a place and people you have never known, may you see hope anew. May they encourage you, as they did me, to see extraordinary beauty in what we might consider the mundane.
