Allentown’s ¡Buen Vivir! gallery opened its doors for the 2015 season on Friday 3 April 2015 (First Friday) with an exhibit titled: Struggles For Justice: Forests, Land and Human Rights – Late 80s to Late 90s. Live music was provided at the opening by accomplished violinist and composer, David Adamczyk.
The exhibit showcases photographs by photojournalist and gallery curator Orin Langelle. The photos document the efforts of people on the front lines of campaigns to stop social and ecological injustice. All of the photographs were shot with film.
The ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery is dedicating the exhibit, Struggles for Justice, to Judi Bari. Bari was a environmental and union organizer in northern California who fought to stop the logging of the last of the ancient redwoods. May 24th of this year will mark the 25th anniversary of the attempt to kill Bari when a pipe bomb exploded under the seat of her car.
Although the bomb was intended to kill her, and did severely maim her, the FBI immediately arrested her while in the hospital. They never looked for the real bomber. Bari maintained she was targeted due to her success in bringing environmentalists and mill workers together to protect the redwoods. She died of breast cancer in 1997, but her estate sued the FBI over their handling of the bombing, resulting in a $4 million settlement.
Together with Burning Books, Langelle Photography and Global Justice Ecology Project will show the documentary Who Bombed Judi Bari? (see trailer below) on Wednesday, 21 May 2015 at Burning Books. Burning Books is located at 420 Connecticut St. in Buffalo, NY.
The ¡Buen Vivir¡ Gallery is located at the offices of Global Justice Ecology Project, which also house the international Campaign to STOP Genetically Engineered Trees, and Biofuelwatch‘s U.S. media program.
Moving to Allentown in 2012, concerned photographer Orin Langelle has documented a wide range of topics, cultures, ecosystems and geographies for over four decades and across six continents. The topics represented in his body of work include struggles against human rights abuses, economic injustice, ecological devastation and the oppression of women, as well as Indigenous Peoples’ efforts for autonomy and land rights.
The ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery was founded to present an historical look at social movements, struggle and everyday life. It is designed to counter the societal amnesia from which we collectively suffer—especially with regard to the history of social and ecological struggles, and to inspire new generations to participate in the making of a new history.
The name of the gallery, ¡Buen Vivir!, is a concept stemming from indigenous and other inhabitants of Latin America. ¡Buen vivir! means life in harmony between humans, communities, and the Earth–where work is not a job to make others wealthier, but for a livelihood that is sustaining, fulfilling, and in tune with the common good.
This is a concept slowly spreading northwards and the ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery aims to bring this thought to Buffalo.