Buffalo continues to blow my mind when it comes to the environmental activist movements, not just locally, but on a worldwide scale. Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) has been operating in Buffalo for the last couple of years, but before that the organization was based in Vermont, and earlier based in Berkely, Ca.
It was photographer Orin Langelle, currently Board Chairman of GJEP, in tandem with his wife Anne Petermann, Executive Director of GJEP, who essentially enabled the organization to come to Buffalo. GJEP is affiliated with social justice partners all over the world, and has some serious chops when it comes to making environmental impact headway. It’s incredible to think that the organization is so strongly tied in with this city.
Now GJEP has opened an office at 148 Elmwood Avenue, in a space that will also have a dedicated gallery curated by Langelle (formerly B West Studio – across from The Black Swan). Both entities have an “environmental injustice” bent, which offers a symbiotic relationship within the building. The initial art show will focus on the changing climate, and the effects that it has on the planet and its people. The show is titled, “Climate Change: Faces, Places & Protest Photos”. You can read more about the gallery and its mission in this blog.
“Orin Langelle may not be a combat photographer, but he has risked his safety and well being to cover peoples’ struggles for a better life, sometimes in remote territories deep in the jungle, in communities imminently threatened by military or paramilitary invasion, or immediately after a natural disaster,” stated Anne Petermann, Executive Director of GJEP. “This gallery will be an opportunity for the people of Buffalo to experience this important body of work.”
Langelle’s socially conscious subject matter includes documenting human rights abuses, economic injustice, ecological devastation, oppression of women, and Indigenous Peoples’ efforts for autonomy and land rights.
The ¡Buen Vivir! gallery is located in the offices of Global Justice Ecology Project, which also house the international Campaign to STOP Genetically Engineered Trees, and BiofuelWatch.
What: ¡Buen Vivir! Climate Change: Faces, Places & Protest – Photos from the front lines. The Exhibit showcases photographs spanning than two decades and five continents by photojournalist and gallery curator Orin Langelle.
Where: ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery, 148 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York
When: 3 October 2014 (Allentown First Friday) – 19 December 2014
Opening Reception: 3 October, 2014, 6–9 p.m., refreshments and entertainment | free
Website: Langelle Photography
www.facebook.com/globaljusticeecology
¡Buen Vivir! (meaning life in harmony between humans, communities, and the Earth)
Langelle image: On 3 December 2011, thousands of people from around the world hit the streets of Durban, South Africa to protest the UN Climate Conference.