Exhibition Follow-Up

Portugal Visto Por Um Estrangeiro - Images by Michael Barrientos

I had another exhibition opening last night. It is sponsored by the Portuguese Consulate and is a collection of photographs I made during my time living in that country. The theme is "Portugal through the Eyes of a Foreigner," and is heavy on scenic and travel pictures. Although I did a first broad edit, the real choice was made by the Consul General in the end which I had no real problem with. I frankly was exhausted from the whirlwind of my major project exhibition, the major project presentation and the critical analysis.

The Consul had expressed interest in doing a show and when she found out about my Vanishing Coast exhibition, she put it on overdrive because she wanted to ride off the wave of that momentum. I frankly thought it was a bit odd and overkill of my name. She was persistent. I did much of the work (meetings, editing, printing) and as I was in the heat of the major project it was a distraction and made things difficult and stressful.

My experience in both was very different. In this one I did not have as much control as in my personal exhibition which has a lot to do with money since they paid for everything. In essence the idea was that they would be promoting tourism, educating people and celebrating their country. I much preferred my first exhibition because it was more powerful, had much better images and in the end the decisions were all mine.

After my initial proposition faded away which included photographs of traditional Portuguese activities like bullfighting and was heavy on religious subject matter, I was not as passionate about it. They wanted to show Portugal and its people as a modern European nation and did not like the types of images I preferred. Still, it was fascinating and a good learning experience although not quite as intense as the major project.

Since today is our the final day of our final term, I'm excited in completing the course but a bit melancholy since I have enjoyed it and have made good friends. More than anything I have grown. I thank all of our seminar speakers, tutors, and LCC professors, and especially thanks to Paul Lowe for steering us through the program.

I was not involved in the poster or program designs and much preferred my major project materials.

Major Project Images and Captions

Vanishing Coast - Images by Michael Barrientos

Exhibition Video

Exhibition


Opening Night

Exhibition Program

This is my exhibition program. I uploaded a PDF version of the document to Issuu (I website I think is great and has a lot of potential). We are selling the 30-page booklet at the exhibition for a nominal fee and it is doing well. With a combination of print sales and the program, hopefully I can at least break even.

I'm now planning a closing party-an idea that I got from a Wimba Arms discussion. I'm going to keep it a lot simpler and more casual than the opening, and am asking one of my subjects (a capoeira group) to perform there. Of course, I plan on paying them. Yesterday, I did another interview in Portuguese. This time it was for television. It went okay, but they just popped in without any warning yesterday morning when I was looking pretty ragged in jeans and a t-shirt. It ran yesterday evening on a weekend cultural show. I guess my whirlwind visit to press offices last month worked.

Exhibition Photographs

EXHIBIT OPEN

Tonight I finally had my opening. It was an incredibly long day starting with my framers who took it to the last minutes to finally get things right. I had to finally be the agressive American and went in full of attitude and amazingly it worked and the shop closed with all of the front desk people helping to complete the matting and framing of my pictures. It was much more stressful and energy-draining than it should've been, but it got done leaving enough time to hang the show for the evening opening reception.

My handymen did a great job of getting the frames put up. Melissa (my assistant) and my wife helped me arrange all of the photos in linear order for them to be hung. We then put up all of the caption information that I printed on glossy photo paper and used double-sided tape to stick to the wall--it looked good. For every region of the Marginal, I posted a summary of the area, its characteristics and problems. I also put my 3-dimensional map, a miniature replica of the Marginal made by a Mozambican folk artist, on display on the gallery floor. And finally, I had my recorded sound which I mixed into 30-minutes of various songs, prayers and music playing through my iPod on to portable speakers.

The attendance was good with a steady flow of people through the night. The staff I hired (two handymen, bartender, gallerista, waitress, and security guard) worked wonderfully. My worst problems were the Portuguese Consul General and her friend knocking down a barrier which they were leaning against and a small group of gate crashers who were filling coke cans full of wine and wrapping food in napkins and sticking them into their bags.

It went well. The experience was new to me. It was fulfulling having people compliment me and then be eager to talk about my experiences photographing various groups, about my project or substantive topics which seemed more sincere than someone just superficially saying they liked my pretty pictures. I appreciated that a number of people actually saw the purpose of my project and came out actually saying they learned about Maputo's coastal erosion. Another was about captions. Although I liked seeing people studying and reacting to my photographs but also reading my captions.

All in all it was a huge relief to get this thing off the ground and up and running. It took way more work than I would ever have imagined. I'll be stopping by the exhibit daily over the next couple of weeks to make sure all's well and chat with my gallerista. There was plenty of left over wine, so now I have to plan a closing party.

One sad note is that my Canon G10 –which I loved– is MIA and a casualty of a day when there were lots of bodies in the gallery who could have casually picked it up and I was a bit dazed and confused. Maybe I'll find someone selling it on the street.

Last Minute Framing Blues

On opening day eve, I spent most of my day dealing with my framers from hell. It's been such a fiasco dealing with these people. Mozambique hasn't quite gotten down the idea of customer service, so it has been extra frustrating. In essence, I've been lobbying these people to hand over or just let me see my frames that they had promised me would be done last Saturday. They were finally ready to be picked up this morning. They packed them into my car quickly trying to beat the rain. When I got home and had a chance to really examine them it was a glaring mess.

First, they didn't properly mat them. They used black construction paper rather than the white bevel-cut traditional mat I had requested and paid for. Thank goodness I had my receipt with all of this documented along with their stamp (they're big into stamps in this country). Besides the "mat," there was crud inside the glass of virtually every picture such as sawdust, cardboard and paint chips, and the backs of the custom frames had been taped shut. The nominal mats were poorly cut with slice marks, crooked lines, and creases.

I returned to my framer with a Mozambican friend, who as a native Portuguese speaker with cultural prowess that I just don't have, was able to navigate through the layers of workers in the shop and get them to agree to do what they should have done in the first place. We had to negotiate the time that they would be done which was gut-wrenching because we were supposed to have hung the show this evening. They said they'd be done at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. I'll be there at 9:00.

I told the handymen I hired to help me hang the photos to meet me at the gallery tomorrow at noon. It's going to be an incredibly busy day hanging the show and preparing the gallery for the opening reception at 6:30. I did get the keys to the gallery and I do have two big pictures that I printed for the window front in place there. So, at least there will be something to see along with wine, food, cool programs, caption boards and a soundtrack.

Countdown

There are only a few days until my exhibition, and this morning I discovered it's going to rain heavily on Saturday, my opening day. Besides decreasing attendance, it will make things messy, but I have to plan to try to make is smooth as possible.

Besides the bigger chores like having photos printed and framed, there are a lot of details I overlooked. I'm still putting together sound (editing and mixing it on Garage Band). I also have to make sure the printers are on time for the exhibition programs. Some things I've taken upon myself to make the gallery more pleasant. For instance, now with the rain, I'm going to have to get some mats, throw rugs, and make sure to have extra towels on hand because here you just never know what kind of crazy things might happen with a lot of rain.

I've been making final preparations the past few days. I've sent out invitations and reminders aimed mostly at the expat and diplomatic community. I printed formal invitations and am going to make a final run through to hang up more posters and personally take invitations to select people. I had my summary printed and am finishing captions, sales lists and title cards. I bought and assembled hanging supplies like fishing line, adhesive velcro, hooks and various glues and sticky things.

Odds and ends that are on my list for the opening are items like wood spray (for fixtures) and glass cleaner. But bigger things on my checklist include the food and beverages: wine, juice, coke, water, food (I made it myself: small empanadas (meat pies), cheese, crackers, spiced almonds, and a vegetable tray with dip), nice plastic cups, napkins, tablecloths, folding table, purified ice and an ice chest, and garbage bags. I hired a bartender, waitress, gallery attendant (gallerista), a security guard and a couple of guys to hang the show.

Other little things I've done at the suggestion of Melissa, my assistant, are getting a register or guest book, putting together a price list for anybody who might want to purchase a print, getting a business card holder for my cards, and a cup of sharpened pencils. Pledge, wood cleaner, has to be found to tidy up the stands which will hold the three-dimensional map of the Marginal I had an artisan make.

Today, I have to go back to my framer and pressure them a bit. A thing that drives Americans here crazy (and just plain confuses Scandinavians) is the lack of promptness. Last week I was told that my frames would be finished this past Saturday. When I went to pick them up yesterday, they weren't done. Unfortunately it is to be expected, and I prepared for this cultural laxness so I wouldn't be completely out of luck on Friday when we hang the show. Such is life in Mozambique.

Press and Promotion

I've spent this week taking newly-printed posters and postcards around town. It reminded me a lot of my music days. When I was a guitarist in bands we used to spend days putting our flyers for our gigs at record and music stores, clubs and shops. My sponsor payed for the posters which turned out quite nice.

The U.S. Embassy public affairs office sent out a press release to their contacts in the country as well. My relationship with a member of the embassy has been a slippery slope. Because of nepotism rules, I'm bot eligible for a lot of benefits. For instance where they might bring in and pay a photographer to speak, I cannot do it (at least I can't be paid). I am not eligible for funding and various programs. However they have asked me to do a number of things and have taken advantage of my being here. In this case, they're able to promote themselves and American journalism, etc. by helping promote my exhibit. Since the people there are new (the staff arrived when I was away on my sick leave) I am comfortable with their involvement since they expressed interest on their own.

A friend of mine, Carlos Litulo, a Mozambican photojournalist who works for AFP and is with Redux, took me around town yesterday to line up interviews and press coverage with the local newspapers, radio and television stations. I'm a bit nervous because they were all interested and I'll have to sit down for interviews in Portuguese which I can speak but not terribly well. I imagine I sound like a little kid to most native speakers. It should be interesting.

I've also made multiple trips to the printer who is working on the exhibition program. It's been a bit of a hassle because it's out of the way to drive to. They've had some trouble with the size of the pages and then, oddly, the amount of pages. It's 28 pages, but for automation purposes, they needed it to be 24 pages. They took the liberty of redesigning it which we firmly rejected. In the end, the agreed to print it the way we needed but will have to do a lot of manual work.

Finally with the actual show, I spent the beginning of the week changing my frames at the urging of my wife. Fortunately the framers hadn't started yet. I did measurements for a display which will have my show summary which will be in Portuguese and English. I'll have that printed and put on foam core. I also had two large prints matted on foam core which I will display in the gallery windows to increase visibility and, hopefully, draw foot traffic. They look great. I also hired a gallerista, gallery attendant, and lined up two people to hang my work, and have a bartender and two servers for my opening in three weeks.

I still have to line up a guard/bouncer for opening night which is important to me because there is a group of local artists who are notorious for crashing openings, drinking all the free booze they can and becoming obnoxious and rowdy. Essentially, I'm focused on keeping them out.

Exhibition Press

I've been working hard on my major project exhibition. I finally got all of my prints done. If anything, this has been an excellent experience. So often, I have been dealing electronically with photographs whether correcting and editing on my computer to sending to clients or agencies by FTP, posting on blogs or filing on to my hard drive. Stepping back a few weeks ago to my tutorial with John Easterby and his advice to print my photos to help with the edit, it was an exercise in simplicity. Physically seeing prints of my photographs made me recall what I used to do daily when I started in newspapers, that is, printing.

It's such an essential part of the photograph and one of our lecturers even made the point that a photography doesn't really exist until it's printed. I had a couple of very large prints made (A1) and it is really sort of breathtaking. If I had a few thousand dollars extra, I would have loved to have printed them all that size, talk about impact.

Now I am working on my text for the show and am busy translating the statement for the show into Portuguese with the help of friends. I have also started on publicizing the show which is less than a month away. Today, I got my first press. It's always a bit odd being the one written about when you're used to putting others in print.

Links:

All Africa

Casafree (French)

Living in Maputo

Major Project Summary

John Easterby suggested writing out a summary of my project to help in the editing process. It worked. This is my "artist's statment," a term I feel uneasy with, and what I will have printed on the exhibition program and post in the show itself:

“The devastating impact of climate change, mainly caused by ballooning carbon emissions from rich Western nations, will hit hardest in Africa, a United Nations report has warned…Up to 30 per cent of Africa's coast could disappear as sea levels rise from between 15cm to 95cm in the next 100 years. Important cities such as Cape Town, Dar es Salaam and Maputo are at risk.” –The Independent, Nov. 6, 2006.

Vanishing Coast is an examination of the people who make Maputo’s beaches unique, find them sacred and spiritual, or use them for recreation or their economic livelihood. I began the project in 2007, initially building on an idea to document Lisbon’s marginal from Lisbon to Cascais. However, the evidence of coastal erosion in Maputo was so shocking, I immediately changed my focus. As a staff photographer at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in the U.S., I worked on an award-winning project called “The Beach Builders.” This project documented the impact of coastal erosion in Florida and other states. I tapped into that experience and began researching the problem in Maputo.

The collapsing road between the Mercado do Peixe and Costa do Sol was the most glaring example of erosion along the Marginal. Repairs were made and sea walls were built in an effort to prevent the ocean’s advance. Exposed roots of casuarina trees, originally planted to slow erosion, hang like skeletons to show where sand dunes once stood. And the most striking example of what Maputo’s beaches looked like less than 80 years ago are found in photographs of colonial Lourenço Marques by photographer José dos Santos Rufino. These photos, taken circa 1929, show a vast coastline with large beaches that no longer exist, as do other historical photos taken throughout the 20th century.

An advisor to the Mozambican government predicted that within 10 to 50 years Maputo’s beaches will disappear. The tees planted to slow deterioration are regularly felled and efforts to slow erosion, such as building seawalls and dumping construction rubble along the beach have failed. Experts attributed the 2007 flooding of Bairro dos Pescadores to climate change and Costa do Sol’s greatest protection from the Indian Ocean, Xefina Grande, is at risk of disappearing from the effects of rapid erosion.

Rather than photograph the progression of the coast’s physical deterioration, I chose to create a portrait of the coast through the people. This is a look of what will be lost without intervention.

Exhibition Drama

I met with a friend of mine from AMF (Mozambican Photography Association) to protest my being bumped. After presenting my case, it was obvious that it was some funny business going on that more than likely involves money and payoffs. While in the scheme of things, it's small potatoes, it was a big deal to me. Despite having all of the evidence, saved e-mails, text messages and other documentation that showed that my gallery booking was agreed upon, I was stuck. The other venues that I was interested in as alternates were booked, and I would not want to stoop to one of the smaller galleries.

In the end, I was only able to negotiate 2 extra days. My new exhibition dates are 21 November – 2 December. We're working on the poster and the program. Melissa is a wonderful designer and has been great to work with. We've spent the last few days trying to finish it and send them out to print. I'm finishing my summary and biography. A draft of the poster can be seen above.

This has been much more of an adventure than I anticipated: more work, pressure and stress than I imagined. I gave a lecture this evening about picture stories and photo essays, and showed my project. It was nice to simply talk about the pictures while seeing them projected big without thinking about the events of the past week.

Ugly Twist in my Exhibit

I was screwed over for the second time in my nearly year-long quest to get my exhibition up and running. I got a text message from one of the men who run the Mozambican Photography Association telling me that my agreed exhibition time has been cut. Strangely enough, I was working with Melissa, the friend assisting me, designing the program for the show and doing the cover information which included the dates, location and show title. It made me more angry than I can express and almost seemed a bit surreal.

Living in Mozambique, you learn to live with corrupt police, shady business practice, non-existent customer service, uncourteous drivers, potholes, random public urination but you don't have to like it. This is the second time this has happened to me. Originally, I had been trying to have my exhibition at the French Mozambican Cultural Center which is the best venue in Maputo. It was not a pleasant experience since they offered me a commission in June only three weeks before the date they wanted me to exhibit. I told them no. After my rejection-which they were unhappy with because June is Mozambican environmental awareness month (they have one, really) and they thought my show would work well then, they eventually moved on. I was told that we would do it in the time I originally wanted, early November.

I left it at that feeling very good with my meeting at the center. Maria Elisa, the exhibit coordinator, assured me that I was as good as gold and would have my spot. When I returned from my three months away, that changed. She said I would have to share the space with another photographer. I refused. She later gave me a time in March, 2010. I refused. I was upset and disappointed with that considering the process to get the space last February.

After that I went to the Mozambican Photography Association. It went very easily and quickly considering the time and hoops I had to jump through at the French Cultural Center. I am friends, or so I thought, with the main people in charge there which gave me no reason at all that there might be a problem.

Lest than a month before my show, they alerted me that my time would be 21 – 30 November rather than the originally agreed upon 8 – 28 November. I am losing a week, plus that falls on Thanksgiving week which is a big American holiday time when many American expats and their families leave town. But, I have gotten sponsors who think the show will be two weeks. I have to run it by them since they are giving me there money to be associated with it. Perhaps it's not the end of the world, but having two weeks has been important to me from the beginning and losing one matters. More than that, the ease of backing out of agreements is astounding.

Today, I'm going to weigh my options which isn't a lot. I can either pay much more money at the Fortaleza, an old fort downtown that is sometimes used for event and exhibitions (World Press Photo has their exhibit there right now) or a couple of other lesser venues. It is awful to scramble so late in the game. It will also be a lot more expensive.

This is not fun.

Post-Tutorial Major Project Blues

Vanishing Coast - Images by Michael Barrientos

After our group tutorial with Mr. Easterby, I took his very simple advice in my editing dilemma: "make prints." It was a simple idea that I practiced daily for years, but one that somehow forgot all this time in computerland. I made small prints of my project and have been laying them out in various layouts or in my gallery set-up. I've been able to eliminate quite a few and clarify what I want to say.

Two aspect of this process that have been difficult beyond the several pending deadlines I have (printing, catalogue printing, and our final deadlines for the major project) are editing with individuals getting different verdicts and the absence of many people to work with in making a final decision. In my newspaper years, when I was presenting my own work or projects as a photographer, I ran it by several people in both group editing sessions or intimate one-on-one situations. As it went up the line different people got to hear the pitch and see the work. It sharpened you. As an editor, much the same type of situation existed with me as the advocate taking the work down the line.

This lack of layers of editors has been something in my process that has been a struggle. As I've noted before on several occassions, I'm not the greatest editor of my own work.

I'm still milling these picture over and 'living with them a while' even though I'm "sick of them" as John so rightly put it. I have to produce an exhibition catalogue and a poster for printing this week and start having my actual prints made by a printer in South Africa. I'm feeling more confident in what I've narrowed down to.

In my exhibition, I plan to display my photos in a linear fashion by going in geographical order in the areas of the 10 kilometer strip of coast it was taken. Last month, I hired folk artists to build a 3-dimensional map of the Marginal which I will display along with my photos in order to give viewers an idea of where various activities take place. I also plan to run a loop of recorded sound that I have recorded.

Budget

Click to Enlarge. It seems everyone was interested in how much I was paying for my show during our Wimba Arms meeting on Monday night (I'm still working on getting sponsors, so hopefully nothing), however, here's my budget. Melissa, the friend who is assisting me, actually formatted this pretty budget, and I've been sending out as part of my package to potential sponsors because they all want to know these details. As far as sponsors, I have one and two more seem like they're going to help: Standard Bank will pay for my prints and matting (if it goes through), and SAB Miller will provide beverages (beer) if that works out. As much as it is, it's still much cheaper than it would be in the UK or US, but in all it's a give and take.

Major Project Tutorial Update

My final project is titled "Vanishing Coast," and I will present it in an exhibition scheduled November 14 – 28 in Maputo, Mozambique. With the exhibit, I will have a 30-page catalogue printed up as well as promotional posters. The exhibit will include 40 prints and ambient sound that I have collected from various groups I have photographed.

This project is a continuation of one that I began at the start of the course examining the 10 kilometer strip of coast in Maputo called the Marginal. Working from the idea that coastal erosion, a major problem not only in Maputo but throughout Africa, may completely wash away the beaches here in what an expert estimated between 10 and 50 years. It is an ethnographical study of the people who use the beach: religious groups, fishermen, and those using it for recreation as one of the only green spaces in the city, whether for football, martial arts or sunbathing.

Ultimately, I'd like to have the work published in book form, using the exhibition and catalogue as a selling point in pursuing publishers.

Here's where I am. I have tight deadlines. My catalogue and posters must go out to print in two weeks time to make the show. Yet, I am still pushing for at least one more sponsor. At this point I only have one, Southern Sun Hotels, and have gone to several corporate entities such as Anadarko (an American oil company), Mozal (an aluminum corp), several banks, telecommunication companies, and a major beer company. This week, I should get the answers from the remaining groups I met with and did presentations.

Next, I actually have to have my work printed, which will be done in Nelspruit, South Africa-four hours away. However, I am working on my final edit, which has been very stressful. Then I will start doing promotion and publicity in the city. I have a friend, a photographer and former sports marketing expert, who has been assisting me. I also have a Mozambican photographer friend who will help me in publicizing and translating into Portuguese.

This has been an intense experience so far and has been underway really since February, but has picked up steam as the date approaches. It has been eye opening as far as the amount of work, planning and money it takes to do a credible exhibition that one can be proud of.

Finally, I intend to do a multimedia piece aside from my exhibition for the final which will include interviews and ambient sound. I don't intend to shoot anymore for the project but am planning a number of interviews with several of my sources in researching. Editing, again, I expect to be toughest.

www.vanishingcoast.info