Exhibition focusing on environment

A photography exhibition with focus on environmental issues has opened on Tuesday night at the National museum, Addis Ababa. The show featuring the work of Ethiopian photographer Binyam Mengesha explores the degradation of the environment, and chronicles the dynamic changes that are both natural and man-made.
Including some 100 photos, the collection focuses on pastoralists, sedentary farmers who are trying to preserve their traditional way of life in an environment of devastating drought and advancing climate change.

Photos include the Borena pastoralists who have begun to face the difficulty of accessing water points and pastures for their cattle and their way of life that has largely been intact for centuries is likely to be destroyed. Benyam’s photographs aim to document a way of life that is likely to disappear within a span of a generation. The show is intended to give ordinary citizens and decision makers an opportunity to contemplate the impact of climate change and to find way of reversing the situation.

Binyam, who taught himself basic photography skills using books and online courses, has worked as staff photographer for the Amharic and English Reporter newspaper, My Fashion, Addis Guday magazine and charities and humanitarian organizations. Through the years, he developed a personal style working on a range of subjects, from fashion spreads to nude studies to climate and sustainability issues. On 2008 he had tried to exhibit 45 nude photos in Addis Ababa but was banned by the authorities.
The exhibition runs until July 26.

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