Kenya photos highlight Oxfam's work

Tuesday 17th April 2012

Night-time photographs of a north-west Kenyan region devastated by unpredictable weather and increasing food prices are going on show at a gallery on London's Southbank.

Award-winning photographer Alejandro Chaskielberg's Turkana exhibition at the Oxo Gallery is presented by Oxfam, which has been working with communities photographed to irrigate land and grow crops.

His photos show people sleeping under the stars, pumping water and fishing by moonlight. By photographing them at night, Chaskielberg sheds new light on a region and community often portrayed in the scorching sun.

Chaskielberg, who was named Sony's 2011 World Photographer of the Year, said: "I've always been attracted by the night, because it is the time when the most fascinating things can happen."

His images show how the charity has been helping pastoral communities learn to irrigate the land, create vegetable gardens out of dry ground and feed their families by fishing and raising livestock.

Chaskielberg said: "Thanks to this experience, I know that, even though Turkana is one of the world's poorest communities, its people are determined not to be beaten by poverty.

"This is why the work Oxfam is doing is so important, it's giving people the tools they need to rise to challenges most of us will never have to face."

The exhibition, created in support of the Grow campaign which aims to fix the global food system, is being held at the Oxo Gallery on London's Southbank from April 18 to 22.

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