David Pace
David Pace
Sur La Route
July 2 - August 3, 2014
Since 2007, artist David Pace has lived two months out of every year in Bereba, a rural village in the West African country of Burkina Faso. Every morning, people who live in the village travel from their homes to work on their farms outside of Beruba, using bicycles, motorcycles or carts drawn by mules or oxen. They return every evening on the same path just outside of Pace's front door, where he photographs his friends and neighbors as they begin and end their journeys. The vibrant color portraits that make up Sur La Route, which means "on the road" in French, have a cinematic quality. Dramatic flash lighting captures moments in the daily life of this small community and highlights the pride these individuals take in their work.
"In the western media, Africa is often portrayed either as a continent of war, famine, corruption and disease, or as an exotic place for safaris and tribal rituals. The simple beauty of everyday life is seldom seen. The Sur La Route series presents contemporary village life in a positive and realistic light, and emphasizes the strength and dignity of the people of Bereba."
When he is not working in Burkina Faso, photographer David Pace resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has been teaching photography for more than twenty years. From 2009 to 2013 he was the Resident Director of Santa Clara University's study abroad program in West Africa. Pace holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz, as well as an MA from the University of Chicago and an MFA from San Jose State University. He has had solo exhibitions at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts, the World Affairs Council in San Francisco, and 511 Gallery in New York City. His images of rural West Africa have appeared in PDN Magazine, Lens Culture, Daylight, Lenscratch, aCurator.com, Wall Street International, and NPR's The Picture Show. Pace received the 2011 Work-In-Process Prize from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and Daylight Magazine. His work was included in the 2012 biennial Anthology at the Southeast Museum of Photography.