About the Exhibition
Exhibited in conjunction with Creating Identity: Portraits Today, Faces of Fooshegu by Lindsay Cameron presents an intimate portrayal of the people of Louisville’s sister city Tamale, Ghana.
This series chronicles the time Cameron spent observing and learning the traditions of the people of Fooshegu in 2007. Unlike historical ethnographic photography, that often portrayed these unfamiliar cultures as generic stereotypes, Cameron offers her viewer a more humanistic and intimate look at the native people of Tamale.
Interestingly, this humanistic portrayal also reveals how the people of Fooshegu’s ideals of beauty and personal expression have changed. The act of ritual scarification is still practiced in Fooshegu. Once a custom to show class and role in their society, it has now become a display of pride and beauty. Despite the fact that the Fooshegu do not own mirrors, the scarification practice has evolved from reducing the individual to a function in society to that of promoting each person’s uniqueness and personal identity.
About the Artist
A native of Louisville, KY, Cameron has had several group exhibitions in Louisville since receiving her BFA from the University of Louisville in 2006. Cameron continues volunteer work with the Sister Cities of Louisville in hopes of raising awareness of the organization’s Tamale Scholarship and Aid Fund; dedicated to supporting the students of Tamale, Ghana.
