Out of Africa: Stunning portraits of a continent's wildlife, at Four Arts

PBN 050223 Wildlife Photos Show 70164586007

If you’ve always dreamed of going on safari and seeing the extraordinary wildlife of Africa, but haven’t yet been able to make the trek, The Society of the Four Arts has brought a bit of the experience here to Palm Beach with its latest exhibition, the 2022 Benjamin Mkapa Wildlife Photography Awards.

The exhibition, a collaboration between the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and Nature’s Best Photography (NBP), presents the winning entries of a global competition that attracted photographers who advocate for wildlife conservation. It is named in honor of the late Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa for his dedication to conservation education throughout Africa and his passionate support of AWF programs.

The 48 images were selected from more than 9,500 entries from 57 countries and were chosen by a diverse panel of judges that included accomplished wildlife photographers, leading conservation professionals, highly regarded safari guides as well as youth conservation activists. This is the first stop in the United States for the exhibit.

“Since the 1960s AWF has trained generations of guides and residents near the villages and wildlife preserves to not see animals as a threat to their agriculture or their survival, but as an integral part of their habitat system, the economy, and also tourism,” said Sofia Maduro, the chief programs officer at The Society of the Four Arts. “The photography awards came about as a way to draw attention to the issues and the animals, so the award in and of itself is using and harnessing the power of photography to raise awareness about conservation and wildlife and the activism that is going on.

“The visual is so important, because you can know that there are these beautiful animals in Africa that are at risk and it’s there in the back of your mind, but maybe you aren’t even thinking about it because you’re going about your daily business,” Maduro said. “But when you see these images, it is so compelling and it brings it home in a way that you cannot unsee. It builds a connection with these beautiful fascinating creatures because not everyone is lucky enough to be able to go to Africa to see these animals in the wild.

"So when you see these images, you really connect with these creatures that we share the planet with and are in some way responsible for, because if our actions are putting them at risk, then we are responsible,” Maduro said.

The competition was divided into the following categories: African Conservation Heroes; Coexistence and Conflict; African Wildlife at Risk; Fragile Wilderness; African Wildlife Behavior; African Wildlife Portraits; Africa’s Backyard Wildlife; Art in Nature; Creative Digital; Mobile; and Africa in Motion/Video. There also is a category for two Youth Photographers of the Year, one inside Africa and one international. The overall Grand Prize was chosen from among all categories.

The AWF, the only international conservation organization led by a native African, has the connection to The Society of the Four Arts through several Four Arts supporters who live in Palm Beach and were instrumental in securing this exhibition.

William and Janet James are trustees of The Society of the Four Arts. William James also is a former trustee of AWF.

Payson Coleman is a member of The Society of the Four Arts and the longest-standing trustee of AWF.

William James' and Coleman's lifelong devotion to African wildlife goes back a half century, and began when they were in the Peace Corps on the continent in the early 1970s.

Another lifelong advocate of African wildlife, specifically gorillas, who was at the opening reception, was AWF senior vice president Craig Sholley.

Sholley’s experiences with wildlife and conservation also began in 1973 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). As a Louis S.B. Leakey grant researcher in the 1970s, Craig studied mountain gorillas with renowned primatologist Dian Fossey. And in 1987, Sholley became the director of Rwanda's AWF-sponsored Mountain Gorilla Project.

Sholley has acted as scientific adviser for the award-winning IMAX film "Mountain Gorilla," and with National Geographic, he surveyed the conservation status of mountain gorillas in the aftermath of Rwanda's civil war.

“Last year was the 60th anniversary of the African Wildlife Foundation,” said Sholley, “so we wanted to do something special to mark the event. This is our second year with the photography contest. We wanted to show immediate and impactful images to people outside of Africa. The fact that these photographs of these special animals even exist at this point is remarkable.”

Regarding the winning image of a silverback gorilla staring into the camera taken by Michelle Krantz, Sholley explained that “it is very hard to get a gorilla to stare you in the eyes, so this photographer who won the award sat there for weeks and built a relationship, built trust with that particular animal long enough for the animal to allow her to take the photograph. There was a whole relationship of respect that enables that one image, so that’s what’s so compelling about that image.”

Kaddu Sebunya, the CEO of AWF for the past 20 years, is the only African to lead an international African wildlife conservation organization. Originally from Uganda, he now lives in Nairobi, Kenya, and traveled to Palm Beach for the opening of the exhibit.

When asked if he had a favorite image from the exhibit, he pointed to the “Coexistence and Conflict” category winners. One of the images, taken by Lucas Marang’a, captures a pride of lions with the cityscape of Nairobi in the background and depicts the delicate balance between conserving the wild spaces and urbanization and development.

Another image was of a Masai giraffe by Jose Fragozo that shows the world’s tallest land animal running between concrete railroad pillars that support the 3.7 mile-long Standard Gauge Railway that runs through Nairobi National Park. He pointed out how both of these species were thriving in a developed area. Sebunya seemed optimistic that humans can coexist with the creatures through efforts such as the AWF.

“Africans are the custodians of this wildlife, so we wanted to bring the world to see Africa through these images. If we are not intentional, we will lose this wildlife. This matters to all of us," Sebunya said.

If you go

The 2022 Benjamin Mkapa Wildlife Photography Awards exhibition runs through June 4 at The Society of the Four Arts, 100 Four Arts Plaza, Sundays 1- 5 p.m., Mondays 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Wednesdays-Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays are open to Four Arts members only from 1-5 p.m. Tickets are $10 (no charge for Four Arts members and children 14 and younger) and can be purchased in advance via The Four Arts app, online at fourarts.org, or by calling 561-655-7226. Same-day tickets are available in-person at the galleries entrance inside the O’Keeffe Building, and walk-ins are encouraged.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Mkapa Awards photo exhibit at Four Arts showcases wildlife of Africa