'Women, Water and Wells', a Photography Exhibit on Daily Challenges in West Africa of Providing Safe Water, Opens at United Nations Headquarters, Wednesday, 29 July

Note to Correspondents

‘WOMEN, WATER AND WELLS’, A PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT ON DAILY CHALLENGES IN WEST AFRICA

OF PROVIDING SAFE WATER, OPENS AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, WEDNESDAY, 29 JULY

A photographic exhibition entitled "Women, Water and Wells" opens in the North East Gallery of the Visitors Lobby on Wednesday, 29 July at 6 p.m.

The exhibition features a selection of photographs by Gil Garcetti that reveal the challenges, hopes and successes experienced by people throughout West Africa -- particularly women -- who are faced with the daily task of providing safe water for their families and communities.  This exhibit first debuted in 2007 at the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).  Among the hundreds of students who visited the exhibition were sixth-grade students from The Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, California, who were inspired to respond to the powerful works with mixed-media collages of their own creation.  These two bodies of works are combined in "Women, Water and Wells".

The exhibition commences with Garcetti's images from Mali, Niger, Ghana and Burkina Faso, chronicling the important work of non-governmental organizations in the struggle to provide healthy drinking water and to eradicate a variety of diseases linked to unsafe water.  Later sections show the joy that results from locating safe water sources and the ways that they benefit people through sanitation and health, education, economic ventures, and new agricultural possibilities.

The final section of the exhibition features the mixed-media collages created by the sixth grade students from The Archer School for Girls as part of an educational partnership with the Fowler Museum, which explored issues of safe water in West Africa.

Known for his long career as a prosecutor and a Los Angeles District Attorney, Gil Garcetti has spent more than 40 years as an urban photographer.  In 2007, he travelled to West Africa for the first of what would be several visits to the continent.  Drawn to the land and the people, he became deeply committed to raising awareness of, and funds for, safe water in the region.  This exhibition showcases a selection of images from his book Water is Key.

“Women, Water and Wells” is organized by the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and made possible through the aid of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and Manus, the Fowler Museum’s support group.  It is being presented at the United Nations under the auspices of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Mali to the United Nations.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen, tel.:  +1 212 963 8531, or Liza Wichmann, tel.:  +1 212 963 0089.

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