Exhibition Notes

In creating the following photo essay, students used Joseph Campbell’s important work, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” as a template to create a narrative that would look at the pre-colonial and post-colonial Afro-Diasporan imagination. Students explored the civilizations of the Monomutapa Empire the center of which was Great Zimbabwe and Brooklyn past, present and future as the stage from which their narrative would be set. Throughout the essay names and places and are very real, and should lead the reader to do further research in understanding these facts. The story of our hero Zumbi and his travels is allegorical in intent. During the residency field trips were made to on two occasions to both the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. From a technical standpoint the students explored the world of photography through several means –High Dynamic Range, macro, projected imaging and flash photography. Camera and lenses used in the project include Nikon D90, 90mm macro prime 18-50 wide-angle and 50mm prime.

M. Scott Johnson

Resident Artist 2011