Photographer brings images of South America to gallery

Scenes of markets, children selling fruit and buses plastered in gaudy designs will be familiar to anyone who has visited its Caribbean coast.

They were taken by Jane Fairfax, who grew up in Hull and gained an MA at Hull University, and has been living in Colombia for the best part of seven years.

She is now trying to give a little back to her adoptive country, and sister Sally has organised an exhibition of her work, which has opened at Larkins Bar, in Newland Avenue.

Proceeds from sales will go towards the Black Colombia Cultural Foundation, which promotes black history and arts.

Jane said despite an improving public image, the country suffered from terrible poverty and violence and widespread deprivation.

She said: “Social disparities are shocking too, as are social and racial attitudes of many people.”

Around 30 per cent or more of Colombia’s population are of African descent,

Jane, who attended Kelvin Hall School in the city, came home for Christmas but has returned to Bogota.

Her mother Janet said: “This is dear to her heart because she’s interested in arts, film and painting and the music of Colombia.”

The Black Colombia Cultural Foundation was founded in 1978, and its achievements include setting up The School of Artistic and Ethnocultural Training, and supporting the dance company La Danza. It inaugurated a monument to the victims of slavery in Bogota, the capital, in 2002.