World of Woman at Provenance Cultural Center

opened up its second annual photo show on Saturday June 25 “The World of Woman: Global Images” an exhibit meant to celebrate what it is to be a woman. The exhibit "provides a journey into the lives of a very small selection of women from various parts of the globe.”

Primarily through photography the show explores various aspects of a woman's life with photographs of humor, hardship and candid looks into her personal life. “We are trying to show all of the aspects of being a woman by presenting our own experiences in the context of theirs,” says gallery owner and curator Nadesha Mijoba.

Most of the work was presented without frames and mounted on archival foam with a very organic background of banana paper. Mijoba decided to hang the show without frames because she felt that the photographs needed to speak for themselves and tell their own story.

Many of the stories were told as single portraits of women from around the world such as David Fryburg's submissions. “I try to capture the essence of what fascinates me…simply to experience that person's state-of-being,” says Fryburg.

Some of the stories told were of hardships, such as depictions of women expressing their despair in photographs taken by photojournalist Patrick Raycraft’s after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

More images from Haiti were provided by photojournalist Kathryn Lucey who participated in last year’s photography show Featuring Haiti. Lucey’s images were more of a look into the daily lives of Hatian women.

Cindy Barry’s body of work comes from her trip to India and takes a look at the daily lives of women at work and other candid situations. One of her lighter hearted image is of two widowed Rajasthani women as they marvel at seeing their own image in a digital camera for the first time.

“I love the spontaneity of capturing life unscripted and unplanned. Traveling through India gave me such a love for its people, the conditions in which they live, the expressive faces of those who live with so little, and those who are unfamiliar with their own image,” Barry tells Patch.

“Working with all of the photographers was such a joy,” says Mijoba. “Allowing someone else to handle and make a story out of your work takes a lot of trust”

“World of Woman: Global Images will be on display at Provenance Cultural Center until August 13.  For more information on Provenance Cultural Center and their exhibitions please visit provenancecenter.com.