Picture perfect

22/10/2008

Stunning photos taken by gap year students on BMS World Mission’s Action Team programme are being exhibited in an Oxfordshire town during the next month.

More than 20 images are featured in the gallery at the Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot, where BMS’ UK offices have been located for almost 20 years.

Themed ‘Seeing the bigger picture’, the exhibition – which runs until 16 November – takes visitors to Cornerstone on a world tour to places where, year on year, BMS Action Teams share the love of Jesus.

Photos depict everyday life in a variety of countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, India, and Uganda. They are the best entries in a photographic competition held for BMS Action Teams over the last two years.

A number of the photos are also appearing in the 2009 BMS Calendar.

Alastair Clunie, BMS Marketing Manager, has led this project and says, “It’s really good to be able to exhibit Action Team photographs at Cornerstone, our new local arts centre”.

He adds, “This gives us a new opportunity to connect with the community in which we live and work and to help them understand the kind of work that radiates across the world from here in Didcot.

“It also allows us to present the modern face of world mission – to help people understand by seeing the bigger picture.”

Another part of the month-long arts project was a special evening of music and words, held last night (21 October) at the centre to mark One World Week.

Etran Finatawa, a six-piece band from Niger, who have toured around the world, played a remarkable set, followed by a talk from Mark Craig, BMS Director for Communications, who explained why it is important for us to see the bigger picture if we are to understand the world we share, and introduced the exhibition.

The centre is a brand new attraction for Didcot, having opened at the end of August, and BMS’ exhibition is only the second to be featured in the gallery there.

It’s been run in partnership with The Baptist Times, who ran the photo competition, and Kall Kwik Didcot, who have supplied the graphics and printed materials.

Click here to see some of the Action Teams photos from 2007-08, and click here to order a 2009 Calendar featuring these photos and more.

And you can find out more about Cornerstone Arts Centre here.

Utilities

News from 2008