The exhibit, “Old Friends,”at the Worcester African Cultural Center showcases more than 35 photos of Senegal taken while Fletcher and his former wife were living in N’Dondol while in the Peace Corps from 1969-1971



Although the Internet can provide images from across the world, most do not have stories behind them. “They are not ordinary pictures,” said Emil Igwenagu, director of WACC. “They are really a captivation of relationships.” These are the relationships Fletcher developed while living with the Sene family and learning about their African lifestyle. The experience gave him the chance to capture their lives in pictures. Each photo in the exhibit is accompanied by background about the lives of the people or the areas where they were taken. Most were taken either in or right around the Senes’ home.

The exhibit, “Old Friends,”at the Worcester African Cultural Center showcases more than 35 photos of Senegal taken while Fletcher and his former wife were living in N’Dondol while in the Peace Corps from 1969-1971

Photos tell a village’s story


By Christine Viscardi SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Caption: This is "Old Gana" - Gana Sene, the patriarch of one of the Sene compounds. Photo: Allen Fletcher

Images of the day-to-day life and landscape of a Senegalese village are captured in a new photo exhibit by Allen Fletcher at the Worcester African Cultural Center.

The exhibit, “Old Friends,” showcases more than 35 photos taken while Fletcher and his former wife were living in N’Dondol while in the Peace Corps from 1969-1971.

Although the Internet can provide images from across the world, most do not have stories behind them. “They are not ordinary pictures,” said Emil Igwenagu, director of WACC. “They are really a captivation of relationships.” These are the relationships Fletcher developed while living with the Sene family and learning about their African lifestyle. The experience gave him the chance to capture their lives in pictures. Each photo in the exhibit is accompanied by background about the lives of the people or the areas where they were taken. Most were taken either in or right around the Senes’ home.


Fletcher, now chairman of Worcester Publishing Ltd. and a member of the WACC advisory board, had decided to join the Peace Corps for two reasons: It was an alternative to serving in the Vietnam War, and it would allow him to experience a life he had been long interested in learning about.

“I had a strong sense that all of our cultures evolved from a village setting,” Fletcher said. He came to understand this life while in N’Dondol, working in community development. He helped to build 44 latrines, while his former wife taught literacy.

It was a year before Fletcher felt comfortable enough to even take out his camera. By that time, he believed he had developed close friendships and learned enough about the family that he could capture what their lives were like in the pictures.

Fletcher discovered that people across the world are “absolutely similar” in terms of being interested in the same topics: news, weather, relationships and gossip.

When Fletcher came home from Africa, he had the photos printed and shared them often with friends. After many years, he recently showed slides of the photos to his girlfriend. She got excited about the stories and suggested he make an exhibit out of them.

This exhibit, which is Fletcher’s first, will be on display in the art gallery at WACC until the end of June. The gallery is only one part of what the WACC has to offer visitors who want to learn about African culture. “The center serves as a cross-sectional forum to educate the public about the rich history and tradition in African culture,” Igwenagu said. He believes the cultural center can help people understand other cultures by creating an interactive experience. Igwenagu hopes more people will take the opportunity to go to the center to see what it has to offer, and wants to see it move forward with different activities. The center offers dance and music classes, and also serves as a meeting place for several African organizations. It offers an English as a second language program and job training workshops.

Igwenagu is looking forward to having more than 400 students visit the center in July. The center, at 33 Canterbury St., will also have its second annual Cultural Festival Sept. 15-17.

The center is open to visitors from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday to Friday. Admission is $5.50 for adults, $3.50 for seniors, students with ID, and children age 3-16. For more information, visit www.african-museum.com.

When this story was posted in June 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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