Streets of Gold: “Living My Mission” is a photography show that will be opening at The Paper Crane Feb. 22 at 7:30 and will last until around March 22. The photos that will be exhibited and sold at this show were taken be Mallory Henderson. The photos were taken when she and her husband spent three months in South Africa with Experience Mission.

“I’ve seen the photos she has taken and think [they] will be really interesting,” Dyvonna Melson, who works at The Paper Crane, said. “I’ve seen some of the animals, scenery and also of the mission and children that she worked with.”

Part of the proceeds that are raised from this gallery show will be donated back to Experience Mission. The mission of this organization is to “spread Christ’s love by connecting people together from diverse cultures and backgrounds, developing leaders and assisting those that live in under-developed communities with resources and support to enable them to reach their own communities and actively participate in extending out to the world.”

Mallory and her husband spent their time in South Africa in two different communities. The first was Pomfret in the Kalahari Desert.
While there, they “lived next door to an orphanage and spent most of [their] time laughing and playing with kids, teaching and pouring into the people within the community in whatever capacity [they] could,” Henderson said.

After a month, they traveled ten hours to a town called Olivenhoutbosch where they stayed for another five weeks. This town in located in the more urban area of South Africa, near Johannesburg.

“I would go back in a heartbeat,” Henderson said. “Africa stole a part of my heart, and I am already longing to go back and hug the necks of the children, men and women I grew to know and love while I was there. Life in Africa, though not easy, is simplified, colorful and joyful – something I think us westerners could work on a bit. We have much to learn from Africa, in my opinion.”

The Paper Crane is open Monday thru Friday from 10am to 6pm. They not only offer a gallery space for art shows, but also a variety of art classes for all ages. Also, art supplies can be purchased at The Paper Crane. Inside, there is also the Canyon location of the 806 coffee shop. The next gallery show will begin in late March.

“It’s cool that they bring in a different crowd than the people who just come in regularly,” Tyler Travis, who works at The 806 satellite coffee shop, said.