Iao PROJECTS is proud to present in conjunction with the presentation of the documentary Sanza-Hanza (King Surfer) directed by Nadia Hallgren (cinematographer  for "Trouble the Water," Grand Jury winner in documentary genre during the 2008 Sundance Film Festival) at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, UT the following temporary project:

Motion Pictures Vol. 1: Sanza-Hanza
Photographs by Jamie-James Medina & Matthew Salacuse

Published by POLITE COMPANY. Bronx, New York. 2008.
Sponsored by Street Carnage Books & Hideout Gallery

Soweto is South Africa's largest ghetto, a sprawling stretch of townships on the outskirts of Johannesburg. With an estimated population of one million, this former centre of the anti-apartheid struggle faces chronic problems of poverty and overcrowding, and remains a notoriously dangerous place to live.

It is here where you’ll find Train-Surfing, the semi-suicidal act of climbing outside, on top and under the city’s public trains while in full-flight. Born in the early Nineties out of a restless desire to embrace life (and death) after years of oppression, Train-Surfing has evolved into something of an underground sport, not unlike skateboarding in the 1970’s.

‘Motion Pictures Vol. 1: Sanza-Hanza’, a book-zine from photographers Jamie-James Medina and Matthew Salacuse, follows V.I.R.U.S. (Very Intelligent Riders Usually Survive), a gang of young Surfers searching for the ultimate ride or ‘play’ as they call it, testing their already weak embrace on mortality.

Jamie-James Medina is a young photographer and producer, living and working in New York and London. He has photographed covers and features for every major UK broadsheet. As a producer for VBS.tv he focused on International news, making trips to Darfur and North Korea.

A native New Yorker, Matthew Salacuse has been shooting professionally for 10 years. His work has appeared in Maxim, Spin, New York Magazine, Blender, Time Magazine, ESPN and The London Observer. A documentarian at heart, he has covered the underground male and female adult entertainment circuit in New York and illegal cock and dog fighting in America's rural south.

For more information, please contact Shadna Sieger at (801) 336-0924 or shadna@iao-gallery.com or Albert Wang at (801) 879-1971 or albert@iao-gallery.com.