Iconic Rock N’ Roll Photographers Donane Famous Works For Lost Boys

Happening this weekend — September 26..

The Lost Boys Foundation of Nashville presents a very rare event featuring historic works by internationally renowned music photographers Baron Wolman, Henry Diltz, Danny Clinch, and Nashville’s legendary Jim McGuire on Saturday, September 26, 2009 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Lost Boys Center & Gallery, 535 4th Avenue South in Nashville.

Dylan, Cash, Springsteen, Hendrix, Santana, Zappa, the Who, the Dead, the Eagles, Rolling Stones, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, John Hiatt, Tupac, Iggy Pop, Emmylou Harris, Dave Matthews, Janice Joplin, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, George Harrison, Jerry Garcia, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Townes Van Zandt, Vassar Clements, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, the Monkees, the Mamas and Papas, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jim Morrison and the Doors are among the many rock and music legends captured on film by Wolman, Diltz, Clinch and McGuire, at historic events such as Woodstock and Monterey Pop, for publications such as Rolling Stone,  Spin and Vanity Fair, and on literally hundreds of album covers.

For the September 26 event, each of the four photographers are donating 10 to 12 of their works to benefit the Lost Boys Foundation., the 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to assist Lost Boys who escaped genocide in Sudan and are now facing many challenges to make a better life in the Nashville area. Much-needed programs for the Lost Boys include computer training, job counseling, social acculturation, educational scholarships and books, immigration and naturalization assistance, art training and materials, a fund for Lost Boys who need emergency assistance from time to time, and more. The show is free and open to the public, with proceeds from sales of the photographic works going to the Lost Boys Foundation.

Barry Wolman and Jim McGuire are slated to appear at the event.

The event was inspired by Burt Stein of Gold Mountain Entertainment, a long-time supporter of the Lost Boys and the Lost Boys Foundation. “This is a not to be missed historic photo exhibit for a most worthy cause. Put it on your calendar now,” said Stein.

For more information contact: Lois Moreno at info@thelostboysfoundation.org or 615:256.8302.

Photographer Website Info:

Baron Wolman –  fotobaron.com
Henry Diltz –  morrisonhotelgallery.com
Danny Clinch –  dannyclinch.com
Jim McGuire –  nashvilleportraits.com

The Lost Boys Cause:

Following a civil war that had raged in Sudan for several years, in 1987 the carnage escalated into full-blown genocide. Soldiers raided and destroyed villages at random, raping the women and killing boys and men. Whenever word reached a village that soldiers were on the way, boys too young to fight were ordered by the elders to run away, in hopes of saving some of their people. Many left in the middle of the night, escaping with only the clothes on their backs, to meet up with boys lost from other villages.

Ultimately, tens of thousands of boys aged 4 to 15 wandered Sudan and crossed the Gilo River into Ethiopia. They stayed nearly four years, until war broke out in that country also, and the Lost Boys were driven back to Sudan. Those who survived spent another eight months walking at night, in long single-file lines to a refugee camp in Kenya, arriving in 1992. By the time American charities began bringing the Lost Boys to the United States, only about 10,000 were still alive. Of that number, the United Nations along with Catholic Charities and World Relief brought 3,600 to America. About 150 of those were resettled in Nashville.

Upon hearing of Lost Boy refugees who had begun settling in the Nashville area, photographic artist Jack Spencer was inspired to make a portrait series of them. In doing so, he not only created a compelling collection of photographs, he became friends with the young men, moved by their heartrending stories and resilience.

“I had no interest in selling the work,” Spencer says. “I just wanted to photograph their spirits as best I could.”

In September 2004, two of the Lost Boys he had photographed—Pel Gai and Dourading Duop—were stabbed in a South Nashville nightclub by a drunken soldier. Duop recovered after a lengthy hospitalization, but Gai died the following morning at Vanderbilt Medical Center. “The irony of Pel surviving all the horrors of Sudan, only to come to the land of opportunity and be senselessly murdered was so confounding to me,” Spencer says.

The inspiration to launch The Lost Boys Foundation came as he went to colleagues and friends to supplement the money that other Lost Boys raised to bury Gai. One of the foundation’s goals became creating a place where the Lost Boys could gather while receiving assistance in vocational and life skills, as well as studio space where they could develop artistic expressions of their experiences in Africa, which also provides self-sustaining income.

After extensive fund-raising efforts, the foundation acquired a corner building at 535 Fourth Ave. S. that had previously been an industrial shop. With a little help from some caring friends, Spencer took five months to transform the old building into a brightly lit gallery, with a computer room, a small kitchen and a large art studio replete with a kiln. Lost Boys began to gather there on weekends to work on paintings, carvings, masks and works in clay.

The Lost Boys Center & Gallery opened June 6, 2007 with an exhibition by the Lost Boys, as well as several photos from Spencer’s Lost Boys series. Since then, the foundation has hoped to expand its assistance to Lost Boys in a wide variety of areas necessary to help the young men become self-sustaining within American culture.

For more information on The Lost Boys Center & Gallery:  thelostboysfoundation.org