Bobby Sager “Invisible Sun”
Over the past 20 years, photographer, writer and activist Bobby Sager has traveled, lived and worked with conflict- and poverty-stricken communities throughout the world. Immersing himself and engaging with the individuals he seeks to support, he has continuously looked to his photography as a tool to raise global awareness of the consequences of traumatized communities’ hardships – in particular, giving exposure to children afflicted by the global refugee crises.
“Invisible Sun” is a compelling collection of photographs about the transcendent power of hope & gratitude through the eyes of children, photographed from weeks after September 11, 2001, until December 2018. The children live in alleyways, slums, and remote villages from Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Palestine, and the Tibetan Diaspora. They have been forced to flee, they are refugees, victims of war, sometimes orphaned, some born into refugee camps, and some into incredibly unfortunate situation. Despite unthinkable violence and destruction, the photographs of the children reveal joy, innocence, and strength.
The portraits have the immediacy characteristic of newspaper photos. They were not planned in advance or staged but are more like extemporaneous encounters. ruber turns this to her advantage, creating an open and natural raltionship with her subject, and reflects the cultural event or idead written about in the pages.
The exhibition will be open at Väligalerii until 7th of March and at Fotografiska Tallinn 1st floor until February.
“I wrote the metaphor for the song “Invisible Sun” long before there were any peace talks or ideas about power sharing Northern Ireland. It was just a dreamer’s fantasy that something unseen and beyond our normal awareness was sustaining us in some vague hope for the future, a hope that found a resonance in the human spirit, beyond these dismal streets, beyond the promises and dark threats of our politicians, beyond the dark clouds of our history.
My friend Bobby Sager has been taking photographs of children in war-torn areas such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Rwanda, and the refugee camps of northern Pakistan and Palestine.
Their faces are a perfect visual analogue for the song. You can clearly see the anguish and torment in the eyes of those children brought up among violence and injustice, bombs and bullets, but in the next frame (and this is Bobby’s genius) the unexpected zaniness like blowing a raspberry and engaging them on a simple human level as his right hand clicks away to capture these unforgettable images. This is the invisible sun made visible.”
“There has to be an invisible sun
It gives heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope
when the whole day’s done”– Sting
