Panoramic photographs taken by learners from Soweto and their peers in the United States are on show at Museum Africa as part of an international collaboration.

A snapshot of Soweto

PHOTOGRAPHS taken by learners to introduce their cities to their peers in other cities are being shown at Museum Africa in Newtown, as part of the international GigaPan Conversations initiative.

Using a GigaPan robotic camera, schoolchildren from Lavela Secondary School in Soweto, and Falk Middle School and Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States, took panoramic pictures of their communities, which were then loaded on to a dedicated internet site.

A GigaPan camera is a huge camera, taking gigapixel, panoramic shots. GigaPan Conversations is a collaboration between the Global Connection Project at the US's Carnegie Mellon University, the Unesco International Bureau of Education and the Unesco Associate Schools Project Network. Unesco is the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

The aim of the programme is for teams of learners to share their pictures with their contemporaries around the globe for analysis, comment and reaction. On exhibition at Museum Africa is a selection of these high-resolution pictures.

According to Jeannine Howse, from the Johannesburg Art Gallery, by sharing and reflecting upon their stories via images and annotations, learners embark on a unique community-networking journey of exploration, documentation and discussion.

"Another aim for this project is to show that we may be in different parts of the world but the same things happen," Howse explains.

The art gallery is organising the local leg of the initiative.

Among the pictures on show at Museum Africa are photographs of the Soweto Tower and an alley in Pittsburgh. Also on show are selections of conversations between learners from the two continents. Visitors are encouraged to participate in the conversations by adding their own comments about the pictures by writing on the wall.

GigaPan Conversations runs from 5 to 26 October, at Museum Africa. The museum is at 121 Bree Street, in Newtown. Entrance is free and the doors are open from 10am to 5pm. Parking is available at Mary Fitzgerald Square or at the Market Theatre.

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