Through the Fog

During the summer of 2023, Peter Decherney, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Humanities, was in eastern Uganda with Sara Byala, a senior lecturer in critical writing, and a few undergraduates. They were there to photograph members of a group called the Abayudaya. “It is part of an ongoing project partnering with Jewish communities across Africa to share their stories,” Decherney explains. “We were taking a day to decompress on our way home, so we hiked to Sipi Falls. It was a very foggy morning. It made the hike up to the waterfall extra dramatic because while we could hear it, we couldn’t see it until we were a few yards away.” On the way, the group encountered the cabbage farmers seen here. It ended up being a moment—and a photo—that stands out to Decherney: “The running joke is that my best film footage and photographs are taken on our days off.” He returned to Uganda this past summer to continue working on the project, creating two films, The Cave Synagogue and Days Between Rest, which both premiered in New York in September.