Art Reception For Ocean City Woman Who Risked Imprisonment For Photos Set For Friday Night

The reception for an Ocean City student and recent Richard Stockton College of New Jersey graduate who was nearly arrested while taking pictures in Bioko Island is set for Friday.

Magdalena Kernan, 23, went to Bioko Island for three months where she worked as a program coordinator for the United Nations, a role which included the illegal activity of taking pictures.

Those pictures are currently on display at the Arts Garage in Atlantic City. A reception in her honor takes place Friday night, Sept. 12, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. in the Osprey Room of the Arts Garage, 2200 Fairmont Avenue in Atlantic City.

Photojournalism is illegal on Bioko Island, part of Equatorial Guinea. The island is located about 25 miles off Cameroon on Africa’s West Coast.

Kernan’s photos are thought to be among the very few examples of documentation of the people, places and practices of everyday life there.

“I have always known the power of the photograph to tell a story and to evoke emotions in people,” said Kernan, who operates a successful photography business and has handled a camera since she was a very young child.

She plans to attend Rutgers Law School in Camden in 2015.

The photos make use of natural light to capture the geographic beauty of the island, which stands in stark contrast to the poverty of its inhabitants.

Photos from Bioko Island and some of her other work can be found at her website, http://www.mkcaptures.com/

This is her second major exhibit in Atlantic City. Kernan recently raised more than $4,000 to aid agencies for the homeless in Atlantic City with her “Faces of the Homeless” exhibit. Kernan spent weeks on the streets speaking to homeless people, learning their stories and taking pictures to document their circumstances and survival techniques.

The event is free and open to the public.