This is the show I have been wanting to do since I photographed in Malawi. A beautiful gallery space, great time of year, and actual time to print some of the images no one has yet seen. The opening went great, Neil spinning records, great crowd, sold some pieces. There were 24 pieces in all. I will put up a full gallery of the show. Thanks to those who made it out. Happy Holidays!

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NYASA - The Water Wells for Africa Winter Exhibit
A Photographic Journey by Matt Wignall

Malawi Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is an absolute shock to step off of an airplane into an environment like this. It literally transports you back hundreds of years. It is a combination of some of the saddest things you have ever seen, and at the same time, some of the most precious and beautiful. Over a period of 2 weeks, 5 of us traveled in one car through the bush of Malawi. 2 translators, and 3 of us representing roughly the extent of the WWFA staff. We visited around 10 villages over 2 weeks, and every day I would document the same things. We would drive in on a walking trail to a remote village with little other than family and friendship to their names. We would be surrounded by curious children who would want to touch our strange straight hair, we would make babies cry who had never seen a white person, perhaps a good instinct, and most of all, we would be met by people singing and thanking us with the largest amounts of sincerity and warmth I have ever experienced. These are villages that had either recently received a water well, or were to receive one soon. Life expectancy is 37 years old in the villages, fresh pure water changes that for everyone. The happiness you see in their faces comes from a place of life and death desperation. They know that clean water changes everything.

My job was to photograph, to document their lives, the beauty of their culture, the family bonds and the love they share with each other. Most of all, my photographs were to show how a simple thing like water can change the lives of the Malawian villages. This was not about changing a culture, not about welfare, this was simply the gift of water, installed by a local African company, funded by this small charity from California. An investment in the city through local well drilling jobs, an investment in humanity through fresh water that prevents life threatening diarrhea, cholera and God knows what other strange parasites and diseases.

This was a hugely emotional journey not only physically, but an emotional and spiritual journey. To cope with and not be overcome by this, I would focus on my work, I would channel all of this respect, and sadness, and love into the photographs. This would get me through each day and on to the next village. At the end of the trip I would look at these photographs and be overcome by the emotions and the beauty of these people. I even found myself a little jealous of their culture and tight sense community, something we often lack in the big cities of the world.

Nothing can prepare you for an experience like this, the sights and sounds and sadness and beauty are all too much to ignore. These photographs are a small window into a part of the world that we have the power to change. They will hopefully one day serve as a reminder of how things used to be as we seek to preserve culture, while changing health and education.