Photo Credits: pre event
Mozambican photographer and film maker Emidio Jozine is all set to display his exhibition Innocent Eyes at the ongoing Lusophone Festival at Goa State Central Library, Panaji from February 16 onwards.
A young photographer who likes exploring social issues through his photographs and films, Jozine is a graduate from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterda and a member of United Photo Press.
For his latest project, Jozine focused on the people between South of Maputo and Malawi's border in Tete where he encountered a lot of moving stories which he has documented through his images.
“I always wanted to travel inside my country and find out how people live here and understand their situation post the civil war . So I took a month out to photograph and meet people. What I discovered is that outside big cities, people are naive and even while taking about day to day problems they are still so happy and their eyes shine with innocence,” says Jozine. Narrating one particular touching story, Jozine stated that while he was in Chibuto, Gaza, he met a boy Manuelito who was tending to a herd of cows. “ Manuel told me that he had been up and out of the house before sunrise. When I asked him if he went to school, he didn't say anything at first but later confessed , 'My father doesn't let me go to school. But one day, I will run away from home just to go to learn how to write.' This made me ponder about how many Manuelito's are there among us 25 million Mozambicans,” he says.
Speaking about the photography talent emerging from Mozambique, Jozines stated that although there are some very talented photographers in the country, very few pursue this art further. “ I can count on my fingers the number of photographers who have taken up this art seriously. This is because there is not much financial support from the government,” he says. “Even when we want to shoot either films or photographs, we face obstacles from the police, or problems over authorisation to do our work.”
However, Jozine admits that the situation with regards to teaching of cinema has improved a bit in the last few years, adding that he hopes that more young artists pursue a higher education in cinema in the coming years.
His upcoming exhibition here in Goa is the first one for this collection and he also hopes to later showcase it Mozambique as well. “ I know that photos have a lot of power and tell more than just
words, and for people who never went to school, visual’s are the best way for them to express they feelings,”says Jozine who has already begun working on his next project “The children’s of the grave yard”. “ This project focuses on a group of children who take care of graves in the cemetry. Some of them go to school but others aren't allowed to go because they have to help the family earn their daily livelihood,” discloses Jozine.
