ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS
LIVING IN UGANDA
This project idea is stemmed in the root of the lives of refugees, not only seeking refuge and asylum but of a people that have chosen to own their new home over a very long period of time and transferring entire cultures, traditions and religions to a new area that is probably very different, not just in the people and their ways of life but even in the calendar that runs their work, leisure and cultural ways of life. Ethiopia happen to follow the Julian calendar that has 13 months rather than the Gregorian calendar that is used in majority of the world’s countries. This alone sparked my initial interest in researching about them.
This story idea looks to document, particularly, the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians living in Uganda and how they have integrated their lives and timelines into that of Uganda and how they have persevered to stick to their culture and traditions from a home that happens to be so far away.
The story would aim to document hopes, fears, survival techniques, joys, ways of life, clothing and various aspects of the culture of this group of people.
From some personal research, there are at least three established churches for congregation of the Orthodox Christians in Uganda. An estimation of their population in the country based on a mental approximation from personal interaction with crowds at two of the churches in Kampala would put them at about 1000 foreign orthodox Christians within Uganda. It could honestly be much, much more!
I started the project back in January 2021 with the documentation of their Gena (Christmas) church service that are commemorated every January 7, which happens to mark the end of a 43 day fast that runs from November of the previous year. I was unfortunately unable to continue working on the project due to a need to focus on a contract that took me out of kampala for the better part of 2021 in a bid to make ends meet.
With more focused research and a very much needed guidance from a seasoned artist and probably a long term documentary approach to the story idea which would look at finding answers to questions such as;
What’s it like to be Ethiopian? Life. Birth, baptism, confirmation, marriage, death.
Where do they weave the shawls (Netela) they wear?
What is it like being an orthodox priest when you’re not in church?
Is it a ministry where you give last rites, visit the sick et cetera ?
How has that changed during COVID?
What’s life like at home for this community?
What do they eat?
Where do young people hang out?
What games do they play?
What jobs do they do?
What are their hopes?
What are their fears?
What did they bring with them from the old country?
What do they send back?
And who is painting those amazing religious icons I see on the walls of the church?
MOTIVATION LETTER
I am a 27-year-old budding photographer born and raised in Uganda. My first contact with photography was during my childhood. My parents owned a film camera in the early 2000s which I messed up trying to figure out how the image came to be cast upon the roll of dull plastic.
This intrigue was re-sparked when a classmate in my 2017 Geoscience undergraduate class happened to own a DSLR. Having encountered light physics during my high school and thus well acquainted with the science of light and its reflection, the DSLR survived being dismantled for a closer look at its mechanism and instead became a big part of my life for five years now.
Photography education in Uganda, and most of Africa is a privilege. Almost all the photographers I know and know of have either honed their crafts from self-driven learning, peer guidance and mentorship or the mighty University of YouTube. Taking stunning photographs is one thing, creating images that impact our communities and the world requires a lot more harnessing of one’s craft. This is the reason for my submission, for the mere privilege to immerse myself in the craft through the wisdom and guidance of a seasoned artist. The award would be a huge privilege and help in practicing the lessons passed on during the mentorship.
One of the very first pictures I remember taking was a view of the sunrise from my hostel balcony. Looking back at it, always reminds me of the power Still Photography possesses. A power to capture a single moment of time, and with it preserve, cultures, and entire walks of life in a single instant for eternity!
Learning, unlearning and re-learning to harness this power, to question , provide answers and document daily life and even look into my own life is a journey I hope and yearn to experience more profoundly.
I had a chance to cover an Annual run dubbed, “The Kabaka Run” in 2018. One of the images made rounds on social media and got printed in the New Vision, a leading print newspaper in the country albeit without my consent. In exchange for a breach of intellectual property rights, the media house offered to take me on as a Free Lancer, an opportunity I squandered out of ignorance.
Photography education in Uganda, as most of you might already know, is largely informal, resting on the shoulders of self-teaching artists, peer education, apprenticeships and associations and fellowships like UPPA and FOTEA. Of the 5 year relationship that I have had with photography, my first formal structured training in the art happened during the lockdown of 2020 under the guidance of Will Boase. There is simply more demand for training, apprenticeship and mentorship.
As a dedicated self-critiquing yet still budding artist, I am well aware of my capabilities as an artist; the strengths, weaknesses and threats to the progression of my career as a photographer. I am aware of my hot passion for the craft, I am also well aware of my lack in skills such as story development, my indecisiveness when it comes to deciding the flow of a project or even during final image selection. I am honestly still a good number of shutter counts away from fully harnessing the power that photography holds and using it to tell stories that matter, stories that challenge communities to think, adapt, empathize. Even with the leaps in technological advancement in Phone photography, a camera still comes on top of the game. Being selected for this award and mentorship program would avail me first with the resources- camera and Mentor but most importantly the opportunity to immerse myself in the art through shadowing and learning from the journey of an established artist. With very limited access to such photography education, young photography enthusiasts, like myself, are left with “shooting in the dark’.
