Brendan Baker

Aesthetically I seem to be pulled to situations where darkness meets a unique and sometimes unconventional source of light. This is almost entirely unplanned: it's what I find beautiful. I don't try to make a deep artistic statement with much of my work, it just is what it is. It calls to me, or it doesn't. Most shots of my hometown of Vancouver Canada exhibit this: a simple interpretation of something I find beautiful. My photography from various development projects in Africa (Senegal and Gambia) is motivated by much more. It's a love for the culture, its vibrancy and resiliency, its frustration and pain. It's a small part of a larger passion to help the world understand and empathise with many of Africa's problems and celebrate in its beauty. To most on the continent, Afica isn't famine or war. It's the struggle to access clean water. It's the joy of a wedding celebration. It's the love for and protection of family. And to a Canadian looking in from the outside, it's very close to the essence of what is important. And maybe that's still the theme, a Canadian in Senegal trying to catch the spot where the darkness of poverty and incredible challenge meets the unique light of human spirit.