I told my students recently something that may have surprised them; I said that I never intended to visit Africa as an artist; rather that my primary interest was in being there as a Black American man who was open to Africa as a transformative experience. The fact that I happen to be an artist of course influenced the way I photographed but I didn't want the camera to come between me and the experiential fact of being there.
This became a factor in the ways I designed this site. I wanted you to be able to follow my travels and experiences in multiple ways.
The Image Map is the "Home Page" for the African work. The rollover button that reads "To the African Journal Texts" will take you to a calendar that presents the pages from the extensive journal entries that I sent to family and friends from all parts of my trip. There are images linked to some of these pages that are typical of the bulk of the photographs I took during my travels across Senegal.
The "African Portfolio" button will take you to a selection of images that I hope will stand on their own.
Eventually the map of Senegal itself will allow you to see a small selection of "site" photographs to give you some sense to the landscape and cities I visited.
Hopefully all of this will be easy for you to experience.
I am very interested in your comments and reactions.
Thank you,
Chris Johnson
