MURFREESBORO — An
MTSU alumnus who has spent much of his life mining “The Gold of Africa” is
putting some of it on display.
Adam Shulman’s first solo photography exhibition, “The Gold
of Africa,” will be on view from April 1 to May 6 at Tinney Contemporary Art Gallery,
237 5th Ave. N. in Nashville.
Shulman, a self-taught photographer, took the pictures while
working as a medical physicist in Senegal, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Qatar.
“The Gold of Africa” is a result of two divergent careers melded into a creative
process.
“The mass of an entire continent lies behind their eyes or
under the contours of each muscle or shadow,” said Shulman of his models, who
hail from Senegal, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Haiti and the Dominican
Republic.
Shulman spent over a year shooting and editing the series,
which consists of 19 images and five behind-the-scenes videos showing Shulman
and the models in action. He used a Mamiya RZ67 manual camera and 6-by-7-cm
film, which he felt would result in larger, crisper images.
The dynamic images of black men and women decorated with
gold in various positions on the bodies create a startling contrast as Shulman
attempts to convey that the “gold” in Africa is not in a precious metal, but in
the hearts and souls of its people.
Shulman, a Nashville native, has worked for more than seven
years in medical philanthropy throughout Africa. He is the senior medical
physicist at the National Center for Cancer Care and Research in Doha, Qatar,
and a project director and trustee for Radiating Hope, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to improving radiation oncology around the world.
He also has advised leading cancer centers on African
projects, including the Dana Farber Cancer Center and Massachusetts General
Hospital, both in Boston, Massachusetts, and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at
the University of Texas.
A proud product of the University Honors College, Shulman
graduated summa cum laude from MTSU with a bachelor’s degree in physics in
2007. He was runner-up for the MTSU Provost’s Award, which is awarded annually
to the student who best demonstrates outstanding academic achievement through
involvement in scholarly activities. He earned his master’s degree in medical
physics from Vanderbilt University in 2009.
Tinney Contemporary Art Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5
p.m. and by appointment Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call
615-255-7816 or go to www.tinneycontemporary.com.
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