Upcoming Photo Exhibit Showcases Work of London Alumna
A photography exhibit featuring SU London alumna, Melanie Blanding is set to open at the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, Virginia this weekend.
Blanding, a graduate of Western Kentucky University, was awarded the Alexia Foundation for World Peace scholarship in 2006 and used the funding to spend several months volunteering at the Panzi Hospital in Democratic Republic of Congo. There she documented the stories of women who had been victims of sexual violence in the wake of the region’s military conflicts. Upon completing her project, Blanding began her semester at SU London (also part of the Alexia scholarship) where she took photojournalism classes and shared her experience with other students.
"As a photographer, I've been more of an activist than just relating the news," Blanding explains. "Imagining myself in their position, it was devastating. I couldn't not do something. These women shouldn't be forgotten or ignored."
The exhibition opens on March 9, 2008 and will run until April 30, 2008. Accompanying the images are Blanding’s stories from the women and a documentary filmed by her brother during the same period.
For more information, please visit Blanding’s website www.womeninwarzones.org or the O. Winston Link Museum homepage.
