It was a simple pile of bricks outside a school in the Gambia, but it made such an impression on a Newport photographer, that it forms the basis of his new exhibition.
In 2000, Glenn Edwards was in the poverty-stricken African country, when he asked a headmaster what the most important thing in his school was.
Mr Edwards, from Malpas, said: “He took me by the arm and led me outside to the pile of building bricks. He said they were the most important thing as they would create a new classroom to allow 40 more children to attend school.”
This made Mr Edwards consider what a headmaster in his home city would say. Asking people in Wales and Africa about the most important thing in their lives, he created his Priorities project, on display until June 5 at Newport Museum.
Mr Edwards, who has a daughter, Ffion, 13, added: “I wanted to make a set of pictures that dispel the myth that black is different to white, Africa different to Europe. It is our upbringing, parents and society that give us certain views, but inside we are all the same.”
One way he illustrates this is with a farmer in Malawi sitting on a termite mound waiting for the rain to come and a farmer in West Wales waiting for the rain to stop.
Former Newport High School pupil, Mr Edwards, made his first trip to Africa in 1992 during the Somalia famine.
He was doing freelance work for the Independent and saw things “that will live with me until my final day”. He said: “I was invited into people’s homes to show me their children starving and near to death, asking me to show the world what was happening.”
This instilled in him a desire to keep informing through photography and since then Mr Edwards has made over 70 trips to sub-Saharan African countries.
On top of that, he has taught or worked in Iceland, Latvia, the Maldives, Abu Dhabi, Chile and Ecuador, where he has recently been documenting how Computer Aid International helps rural people in the Amazon Jungle.
His exhibition at Newport Museum, John Frost Square, was funded through a Welsh Arts Council grant, plus sponsorship from the Cynon Valley Museum and Nick Lewis Memorial Trust.
For details, phone 01633 656656.
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