| Writer and photographer John Sherman of Indianapolis, a former board member of the International Center and the author of New Faces at the Crossroads (Indiana University Press, 2007), a book on recent immigration to central Indiana, sponsored by the International Center, will have an exhibition of historic and recent interactions with Nigeria. Sherman was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nigeria in 1966-67, but was evacuated due to the onset of the Nigeria/Biafra Civil War. He returned on his own to join the International Committee of the Red Cross relief efforts near the front lines, serving in 1968-69. He attended an Igbo Studies Association conference in Owerri, Nigeria, in June 2017 (he is the secretary of the advisory board); during the same trip he lectured at Nigerian universities and gave several media interviews. During the same week that the Obi of Onitsha, the traditional ruler, was in Indianapolis to sign the Sister City agreement between Onitsha and Indianapolis, Sherman was in Onitsha on a live call-in TV show, speaking about current events and reflections on the civil war. His trip was made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the Efroymson Family Fund. His exhibition (the title comes from an essay he wrote after a 2009 visit to Nigeria to attend a conference in Abuja) will feature dozens of historic and current photos, excerpts from his book, War Stories: A Memoir of Nigeria and Biafra, and other writings, a tape of the performance of the opera, “Biafra” (he is the librettist), and copies of rare war-time ephemera he collected in the war zone during the conflict.
The opening reception is February 2 (First Friday) and the exhibition will be open to the public at the Harrison during the remainder of February. |
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