My name is Finbarr O’Reilly
I’m an independent photographer,
and I’m in Oslo this week
for the opening of the Nobel Peace Prize exhibition.
The Nobel Peace every year commissions a photographer
to create an exhibition around
the laureate of the year
and I went to Ethiopia for a few weeks,
and worked on some of the challenges
that the Ethiopian Prime Minister is facing.
It was important for me to be able to
come in with a certain amount of knowledge of the country,
but also to incorporate that view and that perspective
with a view of the country
that was gonna quite different from the inside.
Wow!
The thing that I like is the kind of richness of detail
that you can see in this.
But all of the images really
they have this kind of richness and depth to them,
it feels a little bit like
when you’re used to shoot on transparencies
and you never get that feeling of being pulled into the picture,
when you’re looking it on your 12inch laptop
or even in a newspaper or magazine.
For the Nobel Peace Prize exhibition
we will have a combination of my work
along with the work of seven Ethiopian photographers,
and for the work of the Ethiopian photographers
we’ve asked Aida Muluneh to co-curate their works.
My name is Aida Muluneh,
I’m an artist and a photographer
Being here has a been very rewarding experience
and it’s quite interesting to have this platform
and this opportunity thanks to Finbarr,
who has really made this collaboration
quite a positive experience for all of us
This exhibition is more than Dr. Abyi
winning this award for me,
it’s really the historical moment
that for the first time honestly
for an African laureate
they also have African present in the exhibition.
I know that a lot of people are attracted by the colors
but my goal is to attract them by the colors,
but when you get closer to the work
there are several layers of exploration in each frame.
I always say that I want to create work
not for the elite,
but I want to create work for the world.
And thru that,
I am trying to transmit
very specific messages
that relate to my own personal experience.
The metaphor of this picture,
this long winding road,
and the title of the exhibition,
“Crossroads Ethiopia”
We chose this image
as the kind of signature image
to open the exhibition
The combination of the size of the file,
the raw file,
and then the quality of the printing
and the way the guys at Studio Technika
were able to bring the necessary elements,
has created a balance here that actually works
to the point where you can even see
the grain in the wood of the handle.
I’m very conscious as a non-African,
I’m going to have a very different perspective
than African photographers,
And
the Nobel Peace Prize laureate
has been talking about this idea
of medemer,
is this philosophy of synergy and coming together.
It made perfect sense to balance these things,
so that I can bring that outsider’s view
inward to Ethiopia,
but that they can provide this insider’s view
outward about how they wanted
their country to be represented and shown.