You don’t have to be related to consider someone part of your family. From 2:30 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 16, the Manlius Library will hold a photo exhibit reception to see how high school students from West Africa and the Manlius area interpret the idea of “family” in touching photographs only they could create.
The photo show is a part of a traveling exhibit called “Family: Visions of West Africa.” The West African teens, all girls, run photography businesses in their village in Gambia so they can earn money to stay in school. They are students in an after-school enrichment program run by nonprofit Starfish International, whose co-founder Mam-Yassin Sarr lives in the Manlius area when not in West Africa. Starfish’s photo entrepreneurship program is taught and funded by Connecticut nonprofit Humanity Now.
Guest speakers at the event include Mam-Yassin Sarr, the girls’ photography teacher from Humanity Now and a Gambian Starfish teen who is involved in the photo program. Photos will be on display starting April 8 and run until the 16th.
Admission is free to the April 16 event, and donations collected will support the photography entrepreneurship program. For more information, go to picturingfamily.com.
