Life Without Lights

This year the UNIDO Annual General Conference hosted a poignant art exhibition by photographer Peter DiCampo. DiCampo had spent two years living in a remote part of northern Ghana and witnessed first hand the effects that energy poverty bears on a community. The exhibition titled "Life without Lights" was comprised of photographs from Ghana, as well as photographs from villages in Iraqi Kurdistan, and featured a single photograph from Ivory Coast, where in the immediacy of conflict aftermath he photographed a C-section surgery performed during a power outage in an Abidjan hospital. The images are deeply moving and shed light on a condition which afflicts nearly a quarter of the world's population.

During the time DiCampo lived and volunteered in northern Ghana, he discovered how deeply the lack of electricity affects the lives of his neighbors. It impeded their progress in the sectors of health, education, gender equality, agriculture, and virtually every aspect of development. Put simply, Energy Poverty keeps people poor. It is a critical piece in the mosaic of issues contributing to poverty, and often the one least addressed.

DiCampo continues to research and photograph global energy poverty offering these stories as a contribution to the dialogue on energy's future. Within the international debate, the most vital voice, the voice of the afflicted is often missing. By examining the causes and effects of energy poverty, as well as workable solutions, this project asks and attempts to answer: What solutions will be made available for the energy poor? Will they be sustainable? And what does that mean for the rest of us?

To see more of DiCampo's work please visit : www.lifewithoutlights.com