Thursday, June 17, 2010

“Lost Boys to Hollywood”



“This show started with a phone call in 2001 from filmmaker Christopher Quinn asking me to accompany him with his film crew to the Kakuma UN refugee camp in northern Kenya, Africa. We met while working on a feature movie production in New York City. We worked together on the camera crew.
“This show is a dark reality of pain and suffering in a place existing on the other side of the world. They stand next to images made from my time working on Hollywood movies. These are two disparate points on the globe and they have come together here on the walls of the Perfect Exposure Gallery in Los Angeles.
“Hollywood creates the existence of a world that delivers a theatrical appearance of reality. Hollywood and its cast of characters that make up the film industry have a huge voice and the ability to expose different truths and provide a level of understanding about people, places and ideas. This ability both entertains us and can make us think and react as well in interesting ways that adds light and life to society. “It may be said in our present world’s distant future that the primary prevailing art form of this period of time may come from films both fictional and documentary. The past had artists such as DaVinci. Monet, Picasso, and even Norman Rockwell to inspire and lead us to a better place. From paint to film to digital and always in search of the story that brings light into the dark corners. “I had hoped that the photographs in this show would hopefully tell a story that would lead the viewer to walk inside places that they would otherwise never be able to see or know about. Capturing souls and stories that need telling offer opportunities to open our hearts.
“In my own way, I want to provide financial help for a medical clinic in Southern Sudan started by one of the Lost Boys who came to the USA in 2001. John Bul Dau did not forget his people. He was a leader then and he is a leader now. He started a foundation to help his people. It is my desire to raise money from the sale of my prints to help in this just cause. “Christopher Quinn’s invitation brought me to a particular place and to a awareness of people from Sudan who inspired me and whose plight demanded a commitment to show their dilemma.”

— Eli Reed, April 2008

The above text was written in 2008. I was hoping for an out pouring of positive movement coming out of the exhibit. Not much happened then but I believe progress is a slow walk to somewhere and I intend to be there when it arrives. The Lost Boys took a ‘Leap of Faith” to survive the horrors that most people cannot imagine. I will always believe that the glass is half full.

--- Eli Reed, June 15, 2010

Eli Reed

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