Whether it's covering a favela in Brazil, a Haitian slum, or New Orlean's Third Ward, photographer and journalist Andy Gallacher has been giving a voice to the voiceless his entire career. Though his on-camera work as a correspondent for Al Jazeera keeps him busy, it's his passion for capturing subtle moments in unique environments that keep him creatively fulfilled.
Tomorrow, a collection of photographs he took while on assignments around the world are to be shown at Wynwood's Junior & Hatter salon. "My wife's been organizing just about every aspect of it," joked the seasoned journalist.
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The show, entitled "The Street Artist and The Mechanic," is a 15-piece reflection on imagery that traditional news outlets wouldn't run. For Gallacher, the transition between journalism and photography is practically seamless.
As a journalist in front of the camera, he's learned how to fade into the background and become a fly on the wall, ready to capture the reality of a community as it organically unfolds before him. Behind the camera, he shoots with a small mirrorless device that allow him to keep a low profile wherever he is in the world.
Gallacher's inconspicuousness allows him to capture transient moments that when viewed frozen in a photograph are fraught with meaning. "There's this one piece in show of a skateboarder I took in New Orleans looking out a window, it almost looks like he's praying," he said.
His work has recently garnered the 46-year-old two photojournalism awards, including one from the Washington Post.
According to the Miami-based photographer, the show is an attempt to bring back imagistic relics and artifacts from distant corners of the globe to his South Florida community. If you'd like to check out the work yourself, stop by Junior & Hatter Saloon this Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m. Grab an expertly mixed cocktail, hobnob with the Miami art crowd, and take in the work of a journalist who's traveled half the globe.
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