A new pocket booklet of our AtWork Series is coming out. Each edition retraces the steps of the relative chapter through pictures, texts, interviews and contributions of the people involved.
After Dakar, Abidjan, Kampala and Cairo and after Chapter 00 – the pilot booklet that tells the inspiration behind the format – it’s the time of AtWork Modena Chapter 05.
The workshop, held in March 2016 at Fondazione Fotografia Modena, had the peculiarity of being the first one focused on photography, which “doesn’t change the process, but it changes the rhythm”, declares Simon Njami, the workshop conductor, in the interview published in the booklet. He goes on saying that “photography is about time and the time of photography is not the same as that of a drawing or of a painting. Photography is the space of heterochrony. It’s the space that is dealing with different time at the same time. The moment I see the image I want to take and the moment I click on my camera are already two different times and when someone would be looking at the image it would be yet another time.” Moreover the structure of the workshop has been changed and split in two different moments: the moment of the collective discussion and the moment of the individual elaboration of the photographic work. This necessity of dividing the workshop in two parts is the confirmation that “the education should not function as a generic medication, but a specific medication. Every disease needs a special treatment and every student needs a special treatment. Every educational program should not be forged from the outside but from the inside. That’s why all the steps of AtWork are different, because they are dealing with the context and the people.”
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During the last day of the workshop the exhibition “A Silent Solitude” curated by Simon Njami has opened at Fondazione Fotografia Modena, a solo show of the photography master Santu Mofokeng, winner of the International Prize for the Contemporary Photography 2016. For the students the Mofokeng’s exhibition became another moment of reflection, having the opportunity to see in the works of the master some examples of the arguments faced during the workshop.
The booklet AtWork Modena Chapter 05 presents an extract from the catalogue of the exhibition “A Silent Solitude” written by Simon Njami, and a poetic review of Mofokeng’s work made by Silvia Mazzucchelli. Another contribution is written by Sara Vighi, a workshop participant, who offers us a glimpse of her first-hand AtWork experience.
The booklet AtWork Modena Capitolo 05 is yet another diary of a journey in which multiple experiences melted and mixed, leading the reader inside AtWork world, the photography world and inside the multiple individual worlds, subverting time and space in an immersive heterocronical reading.
Claude Bunny Massassa is a contemporary artist from Gabon. She created Bunny Studio in 2016, a start-up dedicated to photography production, which became DWABI Studio in 2021. As an artist, she has represented Gabon in many international exhibitions in Senegal, Uganda, France, the United States, and Italy. In her art, she denounces social stigmas around issues of identity and mental health, and explores themes of traditions and myths.
Executive Director Kimberly Aceves- Iñiguez has been passionately committed for over 20 years to social justice organizing and advocacy efforts that bring voice and power to youth, LGBTQ people, people of color, and working-class communities in the Bay Area. Before coming on as the Executive Director for RYSE, Kimberly served as the Executive Director for Youth Together, the founding organization of the RYSE Center.
Kanwarpal Dhaliwal is one of the co-founders of RYSE and currently acts as the Associate Director. She supports and guides the implementation and integration of healing-centered practices, grounded in racial justice and liberation, and also develops, promotes, and advocates for policies, investments, practices, and research that enliven healing, justice, and liberation. Kanwarpal believes that the purpose of her work and life is to contribute to movements, communities, and legacies of liberation that honor the ancestors who fought for her existence and survival, and to forge a world that is just and gentle for future generations.
Sagal Ali is the founder and executive director of SAF. After a few years in her career in heritage protection in the cultural sector, she decided to develop the initiative to directly support young creatives in Somalia by launching her own foundation. She hopes to bridge the social gaps and inequalities women face in Somalia, both in society and in the arts scene.
Co-founders Catherine Dunga and Marleen Palmaers created Kitambo to bridge the gap between the African diaspora in Colombia and the narratives from the continent. From Kinshasa and Antwerp respectively, they work to connect African artists from the continent and their peers from the Colombian diaspora.
Martha Kazungu is a curator, art Historian and Founder of Njabala Foundation, an organization that curates periodic exhibitions and organizes a public program of activities to create a safe space for female artists to thrive and blossom.
Alicia Hansen is a photographer and teacher from New York. She founded NYC SALT in 2008 and, beyond teaching valuable creative skills to her students, has developed a long-term support system to uplift them through school and into their early artistic careers.
