Candid Shots With a Hollywood Touch

     Several hundred people came to watch celebrities and see the exhibit "Picturing a New South Africa: An Exploration of Culture and Hope" Saturday night at Track 16 gallery in Santa Monica, causing some traffic congestion at Bergamot Station.
     As organizers speaking from the corner stage frequently reminded the crowd, the festivities had a serious purpose. The art show was really an auction, hosted by actress Alyssa Milano and Venice Arts in Neighborhoods, to benefit Nkosi's Haven, a South Africa-based charity that helps mothers and children with HIV and AIDS. The show featured Milano's photography from South Africa, as well as pictures by Ellen Burstyn and students from Venice Arts, which matches young artists with adult artist mentors.
     Milano, who went to South Africa for a movie shoot, spent three months afterward volunteering at the Mandela Park Township, photographing people and their environment. "The camera became my best friend," she said. Coming back to Los Angeles was difficult because of the sharp difference between "what I had learned there and the person I had to be here," she said, adding, by way of explanation, "Hollywood." "I turned into a missionary of sorts."
     Hence the show, in which her photos were displayed alongside the work of the Venice Arts students who had visited Durban, South Africa, last year. "They're enlightened at that age," one woman remarked to her companion as they stood in front of a row of pictures depicting AIDS orphans and demonstrations.
     Albert van Rensburg, the acting consul general of South Africa, talked about the plague of AIDS, but many in the crowd were more busy attracting the attention of waiters who passed drinks and appetizers around. "I'm hoping you will all dig deep in your pockets," he pleaded over the noise. And some did. The event, said organizers, raised close to $50,000.
     When Burstyn arrived, photographers surrounded her to shoot her in front of one of her own pictures�of a gorilla. "There are 350,000 orphans from AIDS," Burstyn said. And if that was not enough reason for people to get involved, we should do it for our own sake, she said. "It's not good for us to ignore it."
     One guest decided to pay attention and peeled away from his friend to browse the gallery. "I'm going to bid on a picture," he promised.
     "I'll expense it."