Press release For Immediate Release
EXHIBITION FROM APRIL 1 TO 20 OPENING RECEPTION FRIDAY, APRIL 11 AT 5:30
PM FOLLOW BY
THE 1ST PUBLIC VIEWING OF THE DOCUMENTARY FILM FRIDAY AT THE CINÉROBOTHÈQUE | NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA (NFB) 1564, Saint-Denis street, Montréal Exhibition
and documentary film pre-premiere Through
This World But Once Co-produced by Wayne
Schoenfeld and EXEKO Montréal, April, 1st 2008 – American
photographer Wayne Schoenfeld and EXEKO are presenting, as part of
the Vues d’Afrique festival, Through This World But Once, the exhibition
and the documentary film. The
exhibition displays, from April 1st to 20, 15 photographs from two
humanitarian missions to Ethiopia,
in November 2006 and February 2007 - all at the CinéRobothèque
located at the National Film Board of Canada. The first
public viewing of the documentary film, co produced by Wayne Schoenfeld and Exeko
and edited by AuerFilms, will follow the exhibition opening on Friday, April 11,
5:30 pm at NFB. Through
This World But Once, the exhibition and the documentary
film, is an empowering story, a story of hope and sharing painted against the
portrait of a troubled nation on the brink; a rare opportunity to view these
inspirational documentary images and film portraying the Ethiopian people in
all their richness, as well as the dedication of volunteer medical teams and a
clown working together to heal the body and soul of children regaining their
smile. Source Exeko Information Nadia Duguay | Exeko 514.528.9706 Photos credits : Frederique Peloquin ___________________________________________________________________________
Mission to Nepal - Mission Diary
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Exeko Launches Humanitarian Mission to Nepal
Circus performers to accompany Rotaplast Volunteer Surgical on first mission to Nepal
Montreal, February 4, 2008 – Quebec-based Exeko Project announces that it will embark on the first mission of its program to finance and organize the addition of performing artists to humanitarian medical teams traveling to developing countries overseas. The program, in alliance with Rotaplast International, which treats children with facial deformities, aims to humanize the clinical experience for children and their families receiving treatment.
Three circus-trained artists from Quebec will be joining a 14-member team of volunteer surgeons, nurses and non-medical support staff from San Francisco-based Rotaplast International on their trip to Nepal, February 5-21. Initiated in November 2006 during a Rotaplast mission to Ethiopia, the project is a collaboration between Exeko, Rotaplast International, Clowns Without Borders Canada and the Gesundheit Institute founded by Patch Adams.
“This mission is a first concrete step towards the objective of accompanying six missions in the course of this year,” said Nadia Duguay, project director and Exeko Project cofounder. “These professional circus artists are bringing magic, laughter, and enchantment for children trapped in fear and social rejection, and brand new smiles will be the result.”
The three performing artists traveling from Quebec on the Nepal mission are: Anne Brulotte-Légaré, Marie-Christine Simoneau and Emmanuel Cyr.
The mission will be documented by a film crew led by award-winning photographer and author Wayne Schoenfeld (Almost Perfect, Mission To India, Through This World But Once, Icons/Iconoclasts – published by Great Circle Books). The film will be the second instalment of a new documentary film series produced and directed by Schoenfeld titled Body and Soul.
"What doctors do for the body, clowns do for the soul."
(Clowns Without Borders Canada)
For more information:
Exeko Project
+1.514.528.9706
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ICONS/ICONOCLASTS
NORTH AMERICAN CIRCUS IN THE 1930S
By Wayne Schoenfeld
SPECIAL VIEWING WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24 AT 5 PM
EXHIBITION FROM OCTOBER 17 TO NOVEMBER 23
AT THE AGORA OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
8400 2nd Avenue, Montreal
Montreal, Monday, October 22, 2007 — >From October 17 to November 23, as part of Cirque du Soleil’s cultural action programs, Californian artist and photographer, Wayne Schoenfeld, is presenting his private exhibition entitled Icons/Iconoclasts, North American Circus in the 1930s. On display will be 39 major photographic works, nine of which are from his The Circus of Life/Le cirque de la vie series (2006), with another 30 to be unveiled as world premieres – all at the Agora located in the Cirque du Soleil’s International Headquarters.
ICONS/ICONOCLASTS
In the tableaux vivants genre, photographer Wayne Schoenfeld’s compositions are inspired by the whimsical and bizarre world of the North American circus in the 1930s, its symbolic figures and over-the-top environments. Frozen in time and space, melancholy clowns, animal trainers, acrobatic Amazonian women, dwarves, Siamese twins, fire-eaters and other colourful characters come together in carnival-type settings – witnesses to a bygone era and a fantastical world imprinted in the collective consciousness of North Americans.
The product of techniques, practices and methods derived from cinema, a medium in which he worked as head of Real Image Digital (a pioneer of digital film), Schoenfeld’s creations stir the imagination. Suffused with rich colours and textures, at first glance, his photos seem like paintings. However, upon closer inspection, the living subjects, glossy paper and characteristics exclusive to photography shock the senses to true perception. By gazing into these living frescoes, the viewer is enveloped by a story, a spectacular scene, the sound of trumpeting elephants, cracking whips, crackling fire and the laughter of impish clowns. The moment is disquieting and the emotion is spellbinding.
The 39 pieces presented as part of the Icons/Iconoclasts exhibition will be available for purchase, with prices ranging from $950 to $6,500 CAD. All proceeds from the sale of artwork will be donated to the Rotaplast social circus project. Administered by Exeko, the project is an initiative that deploys social circus artists to developing countries as accompaniment to Rotaplast International’s humanitarian medical missions.
www.exekoproject.com/rotaplast_social_circus_project_english.html.
WAYNE SCHOENFELD
Prolific American artist, Wayne Schoenfeld, is best known for his extraordinary coverage of global humanitarian projects, as well as photographs that are living tableaux expressing powerful and compassionate social commentary. His images are widely featured and continue to be enjoyed across the planet; they are found in art galleries, museums and private collections throughout North America, Asia and Europe. His distinct and unique artistic approach involves an elaborate creative process, closer in essence to cinema than photography. It is no wonder, then, he has been profiled in countless television programs on American networks, such as BRAVO! and MBC Network Television, in addition to serving as the subject of several documentaries.
Six of Schoenfeld’s monographs have been published to date: Brittle Glory: The Face of Change, a collection of intimate portraits taken in the Cuban countryside and the Kurdish territories in Southeastern Turkey; Surface Tension, a selection of portraits and impressions of the female form; Through The Eyes Of Man Erotic, revisionist, operatic interpretations of biblical lore; English and Korean editions of There Are No Answers, If The Questions Aren't Asked; Almost Perfect, Mission To India and Through This World But Once.
Photographed in Vietnam, Almost Perfect chronicles the daily life of a volunteer American surgical team on a humanitarian mission. A disturbing visual account, the book — Independent Publisher's Most Outstanding Book of 2004 — documents, with sensitivity, the dedication and fervour of these volunteers who work tirelessly to provide free reconstructive cleft-palate operations and treatment for children in need worldwide.
Published by Great Circle Books in cooperation with American Photo Magazine, Mission To India is the result of a fruitful collaboration between Schoenfeld and respected journalist Rex Weiner. This poignant book is an homage to the heroism and dedication of a Rotaplast volunteer surgical team in Karaikal, India.
To spread joy and happiness: that was the noble intention behind Schoenfeld’s Through This World But Once (part of the Eye To I series, produced due to the support of Hewlett Packard and A&I Color), a colourful monograph that, through images, relates the passion of a clown from the Clowns Without Borders group and his therapeutic visits to hospitals and clinics in Addis Ababa and Ethiopia.
FACTS AND MILESTONES
Schoenfeld’s portraits of Hollywood luminaries, presented for the first time at the Los Angeles’ Best Photographers show, in 1999, have been featured in a variety of American motion picture industry publications, including Screen International and Film Journal International.
Schoenfeld’s work is part of the permanent collections of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, in Seoul, Korea and the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission.
Schoenfeld resides in California. He is a member of the Santa Barbara Museum and Los Angeles County Museum Photo-Arts Commissions.
Wayne Schoenfeld has a Ph.D. and master’s degree in psychology from California State University.
“Challenging ... photos that treat the body simultaneously as sentient organism and as sculpture-voluptuously charged.”
— Peter Frank, art critic, L.A. Weekly, about Surface Tension
“In Almost Perfect, Wayne Schoenfeld documents a mission of peace, focusing on themes that are heroic and worthwhile. For a moment, the viewer is elevated to a place of hope and nobility.”
— Don Rogers, Oscar winner, about Almost Perfect
Source Exeko
Information Audraine Houël | Annexe Communications
514.844.8864 Extension 207
ahouel@annexecomunications.com
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