We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
Frank Hallam Day—one of the D.C. area’s most accomplished photographers—has a new exhibit about Africa, and, as he likes to put it, it’s “not the usual giraffes-in-the-sunset approach.” The prints stem from the more than 8,000 images Day has taken in sub-Saharan Africa, some dating back to 2002 and others from just a few weeks ago. Day’s organizing principle is the “ecotone”—a place where different ecosystems bump up against each other. In this case, Day documents the everyday, often gritty interface between traditional African culture and the modern, globalized world—a painted George Foreman sculpture in Ghana, a vendor selling watches with Osama bin Laden on the face, and a surprising number of wooden boats with American flags painted on them. Perhaps the most poignant of his images is a poster advertisement for a “School of Americana” (“K upto 5Ith Grade, Where Your Children Speak English Like a Diplomat”). Should we chuckle at the crooked grammar or be moved by aspirations likely never to be met? The exhibition is on view 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays to Nov. 28 at the King Street Gallery at the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center, 930 King St., Silver Spring. (240) 567-5821. cms.montgomerycollege.edu/arts-tpss.