Ntsika pupil Athandile Mntumni was announced the winner in the Judges’ category of Grahamstown’s first Foto Fence competition at a festive launch and prizegiving ceremony at Fiddlers Green on Saturday 7 March. The launch, on a perfect evening, was followed at the same venue by another first – the city’s first Cinema Under the Stars outdoor movie screening.
Ntsika pupil Athandile Mntumni was announced the winner in the Judges’ category of Grahamstown’s first Foto Fence competition at a festive launch and prizegiving ceremony at Fiddlers Green on Saturday 7 March. The launch, on a perfect evening, was followed at the same venue by another first – the city’s first Cinema Under the Stars outdoor movie screening.
Large screen-printed photos now adorn the fence surrounding the field and for the next few weeks, Grahamstown’s residents and visitors can go there to see for themselves the way ordinary citizens and professional photographers see our town.
Rhodes University lecturer and photographer Brent Meistre is the project’s driver. The aim is to identify up and coming photographers for further training and mentorship.
The project forms part of the European Union-funded Makana Arts Academy, a facet of the Creative City project launched in Makana in 2013.
The judges sought photographs by ordinary Grahamstown residents, “reflecting their life in and attitude toward their city” in four categories: City/land scapes; Afro-futurists & selfies; Life up-close; and Live–action.
Talking about the criteria for the competition, one of the judges, photographer Monique Pelser, described the images as “portholes into the lives of Grahamstown residents”.
“Eighty percent of the success of a photo is access,” said Pelser.
She emphasised that the main things the judges were looking for were not technique and finesse, but “content and feeling”.
“It wasn’t the ‘successful’ photographs that interested us,” Pelser told the hundred odd VIPs gathered for the launch. They included the finalists, professional photographers, and representatives from the Creative City partnership including Makana Council officials and the National Arts Festival.
“We were interested in the way ordinary people look – the way they see their town.”
Makana councillor Piryawaden Ranchhod, speaking on behalf of the Mayor, said the municipality fully supports the Creative City project.
Pointing out that the National Arts Festival contributes R360 million to the region’s GDP during the 11-day event, he emphasised that it was a priority for Makana to create an environment that is conducive to activities such as Foto Fence, and the Festival.
He emphasised that community participation was key to the success of such projects, however.
“Let’s work together to create a beautiful city for ourselves,” Ranchhod said.
The National Arts Festival’s technical team staged the screening, on a large outdoor screen, of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Around 450 people sat picnicking under the stars, and watching the film adaptation of the book from CS Lewis’s ‘Narnia’ series.
As families with younger children stumbled back home, others settled in to watch the second item in the double bill – Cirque du Soleil’s 2012 ‘Worlds Away’.
The other Ntsika pupil recognised his entry in the Foto Fence competition was Lutho Singata, who received third prize in the Selfie category.
First prize winners in the other categories were Caren Potgieter (Life up close); Danielle du Randt (Cityscape/ landscape); Jane Berg (Afro-futurists & selfies/ portraits) and Nico Henning (Live action).
Among the photos in the exhibition section (professional photographers) are images by Grocott’s Mail’s senior photographer and sports editor Stephen Penney and former editor Steven Lang.
Members of the public can view the photos for free at Fiddlers Green during the next few weeks – “or until they fade” – as National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester said.
