* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Exhibition viewed with solar lights shows difficulties faced by 1.5 bln people who live without electricity
“I can’t see anything,” I hear a fellow visitor say in the darkened exhibition room of a London gallery.
I look at one of the photos on the wall and agree – nearly all I can make out is a foot, a white sheet and a white glove against a black background.
It is only when I shine a portable solar lamp – provided by sustainable-energy charity Ashden, which organised the exhibition – that I make out in the photo the vague shape of a woman’s legs and soiling on the sheets.
But even with the lamp in hand I struggle to divine what is happening in the dark image. It is when I read the caption that I understand the subject is undergoing a Cesarean section during a power cut at a hospital in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
It is one of 23 images at the “Life without Lights” exhibition, showcasing the work of American photographer Peter Dicampo, highlighting what life is like for those who live without electricity – some 1.5 billion people worldwide.
“Living in off-grid villages in Ghana for two years, I realised the subtle but far-reaching ways the lack of electricity affected people's lives,” says Dicampo, who lived in Ghana from 2006 to 2008.
“I found that local people were acutely aware of what they were missing out on – especially economic opportunities.”
A 2011 World Bank report said Ghana’s coverage levels for electricity are impressive. Nonetheless, it adds that in the late 2000s 56 percent of the population had access to electricity, while this figure dropped to 34 percent in rural areas.
The solar lamps handed to the visitors are produced by social enterprises d.light design and ToughStuff, the 2010 and 2011 winners of the Ashden Awards for clean-energy ideas.
d.light has sold 1.2 million lamps worldwide, and last year linked up with charity Christian Aid on a micro finance project to bring lighting to poor, rural households in India. And solar-powered modules made by ToughStuff are aimed at the developing world, providing power for radios, mobile phones and lighting.
“Clean energy can transform the life of someone living in the developing world,” says Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder and director of Ashden.
“It can give people new ways to make a living, boost their crop yields, enable their children to study after dark, and it can power health centres and refrigerate vaccines.”
Another image in the exhibition shows the head teacher of a local school in Voggu, in the Northern Region in Ghana, holding a light to mark students’ papers under the night sky.
The lack of electricity in these northern villages makes it very hard to attract teachers, many of whom prefer to live in cities with electricity.
Visiting a London gallery, hoping not to get in people’s way in the dark, may not be the same as experiencing the disadvantages of life off-grid. But the details in the images, which only emerge when solar lamps pass the photos, remind viewers of both the menial and the vital tasks that 1.5 billion people have to carry out in darkness.
