By Meshack Ngangi
The sunset rays of Wednesday, December 4, 2024, send a message of a brighter dawn to our Bachelor of Public Relations and Advertising Students as they participate in the Canon World Unseen exhibition held at the Kenya National Library Service (KNLS), Upper Hill, Nairobi. This coveted experience was an eye-opening opportunity for learners who expositioned a staunch interest in photojournalism.
Organized by Canon, the exposition explored photography’s inclusivity element and the inspirational belief in the power of images to change the world. Speaking to students, Canon’s Managing Director for Central and North Africa, Somesh Adukia, explained, “This special moment that Canon has held its first Canon World Unseen Exhibition in Sub-Saharan Africa here in Kenya. Innovative technologies that integrate elevated printing, immersive audio descriptions, and braille inspire the World Unseen and embody Canon’s resolve for inclusivity with art and technology blended in an infinite creativity of incredible imagery.”
With over 2.2 billion visually impaired people worldwide, 26 million of these in Africa suffer a similar fate, Canon World Unseen presented an opportunity to champion inclusivity and creativity. Through a sensory-rich experience of an exposition where one does not need to see, the World Unseen aimed at changing how both the visually impaired and sighted experience photography.
Among the 17 Bachelor of Public Relations and Advertising students were Felistus Museng’ya and Stacey Chagala, our second-year, who expressed their sentiments about the experiential learning they received at the Canon World Unseen exhibition, which sparked their interest in photojournalism. Other Partners in the exhibition were the Kenya Society for the Blind and the Kenya National Library Service (KNLS), which hosted the event that featured exhibition images of renowned local and international photojournalists, including Samo Vidic of Slovenia, Kenya’s Peter Ndungu and Brian Mwangi, Nigeria’s Yagazie Emezi, and Brent Stirton of South Africa among other contributors.
