'Innocent Eye' exhibit features photographs from Africa

September 13, 2013

University Relations

Kirsten Pickard
907-474-2417
09/13/2013

Photo by Jessica Beltman. Adrina Knutson with Maasai children in Tanzania.
Photo by Jessica Beltman. Adrina Knutson with Maasai children in Tanzania.


A new exhibit in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Art Gallery will give Fairbanks residents the chance to experience the vibrancy of Tanzanian Maasai culture through the photographs of Adrina Knutson, a former student who was killed in an auto accident while on assignment in Africa.

The exhibit, "Innocent Eye," will run Sept. 23-28 in the gallery, which is located in the Great Hall on the UAF main campus. An opening reception will take place on Monday, Sept. 23, from 5-7 p.m.

The exhibit is named for what photographers and filmmakers call "an innocent eye," which is an ability to see beyond the obvious, to see deeply into the humanity of a subject and translate that into powerful, evocative images. The exhibit's 33 photographs portray life in a Maasai community located in the rural highlands of central Tanzania. They include digital photographs and stills from Knutson’s documentary filmwork for the Maasai Migrants Film Project in the summer of 2012.

"Innocent Eye" was made possible by a grant from the UAF People’s Endowment. It is curated by Leonard Kamerling, UAF English professor and film curator at the the UA Museum of the North, with production by Kajita Ryota, a current MFA student in photography at UAF. The exhibit will also travel to Knutson’s hometown of Kenny Lake, Alaska.

Still from documentary film by . Adrina Knutson and Daniel Chein . Maasai women dancing.
Still from documentary film by . Adrina Knutson and Daniel Chein . Maasai women dancing.


Knutson was awarded a film degree from UAF posthumously in May 2013. Proceeds from this exhibit will support the Adrina Knutson Memorial Scholarship Fund for UAF film students.

MEDIA CONTACT:  Len Kamerling, 907-474-7437, ljkamerling@alaska.edu

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