SAD... AND BEAUTIFUL PLACE - NOW ON EBAY

Tue 15th Apr 2008

press release for Stocki's new book in collaboration with Gordon Ashbridge and how to get it on EBAY!

PRESS RELEASE

"sad...and beautiful place"
photographs: Gordon Ashbridge words: Steve Stockman

Photographer Gordon Ashbridge and wordsmith Steve Stockman have just published a beautiful book that takes you on a visual journey through the townships of Cape Town, South Africa. They see it as "a collaboration of two artists caught between the poverty the Old Testament prophets raged against and the poverty that Jesus called blessed." Both artists have spent a significant amount of time on these townships and it shows. This is the work of those who have sought to get underneath the stereotypes and found the real township experience.

Gordon is a fire-fighter who has become a respected photographer in Northern Ireland. He had photographs featured in the126th Annual RUA (Royal Ulster Academy of Arts) Exhibition at the Ormeau Baths Gallery in 2007 and he has been lecturing in Photography at Southern Regional College. His photographs have succeeded in overcoming the dilemma of a western photographer in a place of poverty. They do not pull punches with the reality of the conditions that people live in but give a dignity and intensity of humanity that is sometimes so lacking in the materialist west.

Steve is a University Chaplain but in his choice of hobby has ended up broadcasting on BBC Radio Ulster where he used to have his own show and writing books about rock music and faith; his book Walk On The Spiritual Journey of U2 has sold 100,000 copies and been translated into seven languages. His words beside Gordon's photos are a little bit rhyming poetry and a little bit prose attempting to contextualise the images geographically, socially, culturally, politically and spiritually.

The book is a fundraiser for the Capetownship project a justice mission of the Presbyterian Chaplaincy at Queens University Belfast. Steve has been taking students to Cape Town every other year since 2000. In that time they have built thirty houses and contributed in various ways to HIV/AIDS, Fair Trade and Reconciliation projects. Both Gordon and Steve will be back this summer with 50 students in tow, seeking to invest in the places these photos were taken and also in the students of Queens University who will return challenged and inspired to make an impact on the world.

buy it now on EBAY - bid £12 or £25 if you ant the limited edition hard back but don't bid... there will be others up soon... Type in "sad...and beautiful place" to find the page.

Contact Steve at stoxo@hotmail.com and Gordon at gordon@ashbridge.demon.co.uk or by phone at 028 90669090.