By Menachem Wecker
On his flight to South Africa last summer—a trip made possible by a grant from the Student Aid Prize Fund of the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery—Ryder Haske, B.A. ’10, watched the 2009 Clint Eastwood film Invictus for the first time.
“It was nice to get a bit of context,” said Mr. Haske, who traveled with former classmates Gabriel Seder, B.A. ’10, and Tyler C. Perry to document the country through film and photography during last summer’s World Cup.
Mr. Haske’s photographs, Mr. Seder’s wall texts and Mr. Perry’s videos (which Mr. Haske worked on as well) are featured in the gallery’s current exhibit South Africa Kicks (through Dec. 17).
The about five dozen images in the exhibit range from an arrangement of vuvuzelas to soccer stadiums, and panoramic landscapes to portraits of township residents.
Mr. Haske, who worked at the gallery for three-and-a-half years as a student, hadn’t been to South Africa before. He heard about the World Cup being in Africa for the first time as a senior.
“I said, ‘Wow, what a perfect opportunity to go to a foreign country and apply the filmmaking and photography skills I learned at GW with my best friends and colleagues,’” he said.
The three, who couch-surfed their way across South Africa, met as freshmen at GW. Mr. Haske and Mr. Perry were roommates, and they soon met Mr. Seder, who was a friend of their third roommate. Initially a political science major, Mr. Haske fell in love with photography and documentary filmmaking after taking pictures for the Hatchet. Mr. Seder majored in history and international affairs, while Mr. Perry transferred to Boston University to complete his studies.
“I think Ryder’s photographs really capture a sense of the spirit of the moment, which is what they set out to do,” said Lenore Miller, M.F.A. ’72, director of university art galleries and chief curator. “I’m very proud to help support this endeavor.”
Mr. Haske secured the $7,000 grant sponsored by the gallery’s namesake Luther W. Brady, B.A. ’46, M.D. ’48, a GW trustee emeritus, after recording a video interview with him for the gallery’s archives as part of project while he was working at the gallery.
“Dr. Brady thinks Ryder is very talented, which he is,” said Ms. Miller. “Ryder has a way of bringing people together.”
“It really helped to have worked at the gallery, because I knew exactly what the space was like,” said Mr. Haske. “When I designed the exhibit, I really knew where to place things.”
All three of the artists featured in the show attended the opening Nov. 16 at the gallery. GW President Steven Knapp also attended the reception, which featured two Spanish wines from Tradewinds Specialty Imports.
Mr. Haske, Mr. Perry and Mr. Seder initially conceived of their project as a feature-length documentary. But they later decided on the exhibit with visual, cinematic and literary components.
Mr. Haske, who grew up playing soccer, said he was always a fan of the “spectacle of the World Cup,” which he called “the most important international sporting event in the world.”
Despite racial and economic tensions, South Africans came together “to speak the same language in soccer,” Mr. Haske said.
Mr. Seder, who organized archival materials in the glass cases at a show last year at the gallery, Clothing the Rebellious Soul: Revolution 1963-1973, said the project was also a natural extension of his studies at GW.
“It felt like an application of what I had studied at GW,” he said. “It made us a little more sensitive to the social, cultural and historical importance of what was going on at the World Cup.”
“Our expectations were completely shattered when we got there,” added Mr. Perry, who said that the group expected to find a different kind of slum than they encountered in the township Soweto. “It had stadiums, paved roads, running water and electricity.”
“We weren’t expecting everyone to be as nice and welcoming,” Mr. Perry said. “It seemed genuine – not just a show put on for the World Cup. They were all very proud of their country and very proud to meet us and to have us see it.”
“The show reiterates some of the important ways sports can make a real difference in people’s lives,” said Anna Phillips, B.A. ’07, who founded a program in Uganda called Girls Kick It.
“Although soccer certainly cannot single handedly fix problems of poverty, dictatorships or disease, it sometimes can provide at least a temporary escape,” said Ms. Phillips, a Presidential Administrative Fellow and master’s candidate in international development studies. “One can see this in the eyes and the posture of the soccer player in one of Ryder’s photo. He looks proud.”