The Exhibition

“The intellectual life of the whole of western society has become divided into ‘two cultures’, and the growing division between them is a major handicap in solving the world’s problems.”

C. P. Snow

A chance encounter, on an Oxfordshire bike ride in 2024, brought together four disparate individuals: a professional photographer from London, a professional photographer from Melbourne, Australia, a Uruguayan professor in molecular parasitology at Oxford University and an Oxford-based NGO leader working in Ghana. Working together across disciplines, they have created a ground-breaking exhibition of startling reportage photographs that will be showing next month at the University of Oxford’s state-of-the-art The Life and Mind Building (LaMB). Taking inspiration from ideas in C. P. Snow’s The Two Cultures, these individuals, in a nearly accidental way, are bringing together art, humanitarian action, and scientific thought to demonstrate how bridging the divide between disciplines can help solve the world’s problems. The exhibition hopes to send a powerful and profound message.

The Ghana Exhibition in Oxford represents the culmination of Anthony Dawton and Jim McFarlane’s photographic partnership, built on 50 years of combined experience in documentary photography. It tells of the extraordinary 20-year story of Oxford-based Adrian and Heather Rosser’s Community Action Ghana. And it highlights the work of the University’s Professor Gabriel Rinaldi, a microbiologist and world leader in the search for a more effective cure for schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia.

“Our vision is where everyone in Ghana has access to toilets, clean water and books. The communities’ priorities are our priorities.”
Adrian Rosser CEO Community Action Ghana

“For all the doubts and angst that accompany being a serious photographer, there are those brilliant moments when somebody looks at your photograph and says I want to be part of this, I want to help."
Anthony Dawton

“The ability to shed light onto something that most people just walk past, is a valuable thing.”
Jim McFarlane

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
Albert Einstein