Abuku Mnena Margaret
Theatre Arts Department
Benue State University , Makurdi
Benue State , Nigeria
E-mail: mneabuku@yahoo.com
Abstract
Culture is the way of life of a people. It is the embodiment of people's ways and doings, it does not grow like a plant neither would it be destroyed like an earthquake. Culture is made and preserved, changed and destroyed by man. It lives and dies with the attention man pays to it and the role it is allowed to play. Man, a social and historical being, has his cultural products, which reflect to a great extent his natural, social and historical background. His art has its roots in his environment and not as an inspiration from another world. This culture could be developed and preserved in his art through songs, poetry, folklore, painting and photography. Photography seizes a moment, symbols, objects and people as truly as possible. It has the power to preserve moments and objects for future generation. It goes beyond merely recording events, portraits and landscapes, but conveys a lot of messages and meanings as no other medium of expression can immediately get to the heart of things, or the human heart as the power of photography. Thus, with examples, the objective of this paper is to look at the power of photography as a tool for cultural expression and awareness, evoking emotions of the original moment. The paper would also take a cursory look at photography as a tool for education and information. It would argue if photography is an art and if photographs have to be functional for them to be meaningful and relevant.