In this photo: Dawn Stevens, owner of Clickers and Flickers photography club; Ezra, Karine.I met Ezra Mabengaza on Jan. 27, 2010 at Castaways during a photography event.
He is a photographer and actor. He was one of the bodyguards in the movie Invictus by Clint Eastwood. Ezra is a very warm and friendly person.
Here is part of his email to me:
What I realise is that the dream that i have of building an art academy in South Africa one day just is not gonna materialise if i dont continue to grow. Perhaps, you know what this future institution of ours in South Africa is gonna do to change the landscape of my home country. right now our ESSENCE is being threatened on so many levels, years of overcoming apartheid and then now being thrown into competing in modern day economies after years of isolation, on unfair and unjust terms. Please try to imagine the position that our next generation is in after the decay of several generations before us. There is the continued exploitation of women as well as HIV, which is also destroying us, and all that can be changed by seeing a young artist like myself, someone who shared the same experiences (except that my father was a political prisoner, this generation at least had some access to their fathers).
What I realise is that the dream that i have of building an art academy in South Africa one day just is not gonna materialise if i dont continue to grow. Perhaps, you know what this future institution of ours in South Africa is gonna do to change the landscape of my home country. right now our ESSENCE is being threatened on so many levels, years of overcoming apartheid and then now being thrown into competing in modern day economies after years of isolation, on unfair and unjust terms. Please try to imagine the position that our next generation is in after the decay of several generations before us. There is the continued exploitation of women as well as HIV, which is also destroying us, and all that can be changed by seeing a young artist like myself, someone who shared the same experiences (except that my father was a political prisoner, this generation at least had some access to their fathers).
