African Waters 360° with Florian Wagner, Jean Tresfon and Kholosa Magudu

ABOUT

Join us at the Two Oceans Aquarium on 18 May 2018 for a triple bill of inspirational stories that focus on water in the African context. Two world-class photographers, Florian Wagner (Germany) and Jean Tresfon (South Africa), and WWF South Africa’s Kholosa Magudu (Project Manager: Breede River Project) will be showcasing their work and exploring what water means to us in an ever-changing, resource-stressed world.

We are hosting this event to help launch African Waters 360°, a photo-film project that will see Florian Wagner flying through a number of African countries in a helicopter taking 360° panoramic images of diverse African cities that are located near water as well as near river systems that are meaningful for ecological balance. These include the Cubango River, which eventually floods the Okavango Delta in Botswana. These photographs will be published in a beautiful coffeetable book, due for release in 2019.

The project’s aim is to document Africa's beauty, in order to create awareness for the need of responsible handling of our number-one source of life. Africa 360° is also a fundraising project for Charity:Water, which develops infrastructure for local communities to have access to clean water, key to improving their lives.

We couldn’t celebrate water OR photography without inviting our long-time friend and celebrated photographer Jean Tresfon to deliver a presentation that sheds light on the beautiful images that he has captured of the Western Cape's water bodies over the years. And we couldn’t talk about water without also inviting Kholosa Magudu, whose moving story starts in Matatiele in the Eastern Cape where she grew up learning about the importance of water from a very early age.

Join us on this inspirational night as we take another look, from all the different angles, at this precious source of life - water.

Event details

Date: 18 May 2018
Time: 18:30 for 19:00 until 21:00
Cost: R100 per person

About Florian Wagner

Florian is a photographer, paragliding instructor and helicopter pilot based in Munich, Germany. His work explores wildlife, outdoor sports and the environment. Besides numerous publications like National Geographic, GQ and Focus, he has been exhibited nationally and internationally and his work is featured in private and public collections. Florian is an appointed Leica ambassador, develops and tests photographic equipment for LEICA and LOWEPRO and participates in international advertising campaigns.

About Jean Tresfon

Even if you haven’t heard of Jean Tresfon … you have definitely seen his photographs. Jean’s aerial images of Cape Town and surrounds are widely distributed and enjoy a very high profile. Jean’s images of marine life are extremely popular, and he made waves with his series of photographs depicting sewage outfall around the Cape Peninsula, as well as his stunning aerial images of the Western Cape’s dams, most of which are on the verge of running dry.

Jean will be telling his personal water story as witnessed through his lens, touching on issues of conservation, drought and sewerage.

About Kholosa Magudu

Kholosa’s journey began at home in Matatiele where she volunteered with Environmental and Rural Solutions (an environmental NGO) during vacations. She credits this local environmental consultant for being her colourful gateway to all things environmental. She then completed a BSc in Environmental Sciences and a BSc Honours in Ecological Sciences at UKZN in Pietermaritzburg.

As part of SANBI’s Groen Sebenza programme, she was placed with the Duzi-Umngeni Conservation Trust (DUCT) in Pietermaritzburg where she was later employed as a Water Health Scientist. Some of her key responsibilities at DUCT, were to conduct water quality assessments, waterborne disease research and to help groups use and understand citizen science monitoring tools (MiniSASS) and other river health issues. It is working at DUCT that fuelled her passion for freshwater aquatic ecology and people even more.

This inspired her to broaden her horizons in this field and she joined the Freshwater Programme in WWF-SA, as a result. At WWF, Kholosa has worked with communities in areas such as Ceres, Stellenbosch including some parts of KZN. Her focus is leading and providing support to community-led water stewardship initiatives where communities tackle water, sanitation and waste issues. Her role is to engage and capacitate communities to build relationships with key role players to take collective action for water stewardship.

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