Aquae Nguvu Gallery

Group exhibition, six works each

Aquae is Latin for "water" and nguvu is Swahili for "strength, power."

(pronounced AH-kway n-GOO-voo)

I belong to a photography salon group called Vision 2020 that started 5 years ago during the pandemic. We all belong to the Coalition of Photographic Arts (CoPA) as well, but we wanted a small group to provide constructive feedback as our work progresses. When it first started, I didn't think it would last more than a year. We had 3 men and 3 women meeting once a month on Zoom. We're down to 4 members now but we still meet via Zoom for convenience of sharing images without printing them out and passing them around. We can try suggested changes in real time because Photoshop is right there with us when we meet.

All 6 of the original members take different kinds of photographs which made the feedback uniquely different with each person. This is still working fabulously with 4 members, as we are still unique in our methods from the others. The other two are still in close contact with us whenever we need them.

Lew does industrial photos, Kris does street photography, Carol does abstracts, and you all know what I do.

Tonight is the opening reception for our first group exhibition at a gallery in downtown Milwaukee. In June we'll have an artist talk, and in July our exhibition will be up during Gallery Night/Day when the streets of downtown Milwaukee fill up with people visiting all the open galleries, sipping free wine and nibbling on goodies.

Kris got this show for us because she has had her own solo show at this gallery. The gallery still represents her because her work tends to sell. Maybe the rest of us will have a little of that luck too!

Slightly blurry renditions of my six pieces chosen by the gallery owner

Update: I just got word from the gallery owner that I can bring along my printed zines of my Seeing Dementia series for sale tonight!