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Katherine Holt Brings the Women of South Sudan to MAC Birmingham. 

The photojournalist brings a powerful exhibition that shows us the brave girls living in South Sudan. Kate Holt tells us the stories of Helena (15), Roseanna (17), Sarah (16) Helena (14) and other girls who have been facing extreme poverty, a lack of education and a lack of food to eat which affects their daily lives. The exhibition is inspiring as these girls share how they survive whilst still having dreams of having a better life. 

Images taken by me at the exhibition in Birmingham, original photographs on the wall by Kate Holt. 

[01605449-blog]

Kate Holt brings the women of South Sudan to MAC Birmingham

Katherine Emily Holt is a British photojournalist who was born in Zimbabwe and has spent the entirety of her career working in Africa and the Middle East. Kate Holt has travelled and learned a lot throughout her working years in photography and has continued to create moving projects that document different stories that show cultures in Africa, politics and out of the ordinary life experiences.

The exhibition

Kate Holt brings her beautiful exhibition to the Midlands Art Centre in Birmingham for people to view. The Midlands Art Centre was built in 1962 in Cannon Hill Park Birmingham. MAC Birmingham is one of the main attractions in the Black Country as it is full of exhibitions, art galleries, theatre, cinema, workshops, dance, comedy and crafts throughout the whole year. MAC Birmingham is dedicated to bringing different exhibitions to the Black Country to inspire all kinds of artistic people!

Katherine Holt has brought an admission free exhibition that explores the Women of South Sudan. The exhibition was first opened to the public on Saturday 30thMarch and will end on Sunday 19thMay 2019. The exhibition shows pictures that tell powerful and inspiring stories about the girls living in South Sudan despite all the hardships they face. The exhibition portrays a strong sense of female empowerment which could be ideal for any feminist writers or artists to go and explore deeper. These pictures were taken in 2018 as an assignment with PLAN International UK in South Sudan.

Holt ensured to bring an exhibition to the Black Country that will move all the audience that will go and see it. The photographs taken show us how the women in South Sudan navigate their daily lives despite living in a country where they are facing war, a lack of education, early teenage pregnancy, hunger and extreme poverty. This exhibition is an important one to go and explore as Katherine has carefully documented the stories of eight strong girls who still hold on to their dreams whilst telling us about the trials and tribulations they face in South Sudan. The purpose of these pictures is to evoke feeling from the audience, I felt touched and proud knowing these girls are getting a chance to use their voice to show us what women in Sudan are going through as this type of coverage isn’t in the mainstream media.

The women of South Sudan were granted independence in 2011 however things changed and took a turn when the power crisis happened in December 2013. South Sudan became a nation full of armed conflict as many people are still being killed in the civil war, a nation facing economic crisis and left millions of people without enough food to eat. The lives of these women along with their children remain in danger as the nation is still in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that has been driven by over four years of civil war. Kate Holt tries to portray this to us through this exhibition how these women are experiencing these hardships along with gender inequality and discrimination that is keeping them poor and hindering them from receiving an education.

Kate Holt’s career & awards

Katherine Holt has also worked on other women empowerment projects in the past. In June 2015, the photojournalist worked on a similar project on women’s rights, gender equality and child marriages. This project also aimed to document the hopes, dreams and aspirations of Ethiopian girls living in different parts of the country. The freelance photographer is a Guardian contributor that works for the International media, NGOs and is a director of the communications agency. She has consistently showed her skill behind the camera as she is an award-winning humanitarian. Holt has been awarded twice for the Amnesty award for Humanitarian Reporting. Once in 2005, she was awarded for her articles and in 2010 for a photographic series on elderly people in Zimbabwe where she was born. Her work has been honoured and been shown in exhibitions across many countries in the world. In 2010, Katherine produced work with six Ugandan & Burundian soldiers as she taught them photography when she was embedded with the troops on the frontline of Mogadishu. This exhibition was moved to the National Museum in Uganda but was permanently put in the AMISOM base in Mogadishu international Airport.

The exhibition in MAC Birmingham is one for everyone to attend before it closes from public viewing on 19thMay 2019 at 9pm. Kate Holt has done an incredible job with putting this exhibition together to increase awareness on such important stories that are not making the British mainstream media. The personal accounts from the eight girls are unique and Kate makes sure to show us how brave these girls are whilst living in a nation like South Sudan. Kate Holt worked with Plan International UK which has teams that have been responding to this ongoing crisis providing the necessary tools to households that will help improve their nutrition and promote their hygiene.