Aleppo hosts the 4th international photography gathering
Syria, Culture, 11/3/2000

The Fourth Photograph Gathering was recently held in Aleppo. It was attended by some 16 countries and cultural and humanitarian institutions, with many of them participating in their first cultural event in Syria. The Aleppo photography gathering is a result of efforts exerted by private parties namely ( Le Pont Gallery), the public sector ( both the province of Aleppo and the project of rehabilitation of the old city of Aleppo), besides a group of volunteers.

Thanks to the turnout it has been witnessing ( 19000 visitors over three festivals), this gathering could reach the public who had already deserted art galleries and was able to reach the young generation and raise awareness among its members on modern, and the contemporary art.

The participating countries are Armenia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, the international committee of the Red Cross, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Syria, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the USA.

Among the photos is that of the International committee of the Red Cross.

The occupation of the Syrian Golan heights by Israel in 1967 left many Golanese families torn apart, with mothers and sons, brothers and sisters on different sides of a line of separation. It is within the mandate of the International committee of the red Cross ( ICRC) to facilitate the contacts between separated family members m which it is doing within this context since 1968.

In this regard, the ICRC organizes for groups of Golanese residents to cross over from the Occupied Golan to the rest of Syria, Those groups are students performing their university studies in Damascus.

And whatever a bride and a groom coming from different sides of the line of separation on the Golan decide to get married, the ICRC makes it possible. These are very emotional moments: weddings behind barbed wires, little groups of Golanese people from both sides of the line being reunited for a few limited minutes. Then the bride crosses over, knowing that in the present political situation she will not be able to visit her parents who live in Damascus.

The USA took part in the exhibition under the title " picturing the century", presented by the American Cultural Center in Damascus.

Picturing the Century is an exhibition of photographs organized by the National Archives and Records administration in Washington, D.C. It includes images from a variety of government photographs whose work span the 20th century. The subject matter is varied, befitting a show that documents 100 years in a land as large and diverse as the United States. This collection of images illustrates America at peace and at war, as a center of invention and technological development and as a nation of city development and countryside simplicity. It makes one looks at America as it attached the Great Depression, a fight for freedom of two world wars, put the man on the moon, waged an un-winnable conflict in Vietnam, and proved the strength of its constitution during the Watergate crisis. The exhibition is divided into 6 section: a new century the Great war and the new era, the great depression and the New deal, a World of flames, Post- war America and a Century 's end.

>From Lebanon was the photo under the name of the "vehicle". Picturing moments of transition in a modernizing society. A book and an exhibition of photographs edited by Akram Zaatari, of the Arab Image Foundation.

The " vehicle" is an exhibition that traces the infiltration of modernity into the Arab region through the representation of the vehicle. Motorized means of transportation, whether cars, planes, ships or automobiles are often very present in family albums. They somehow reflected peoples desire to picture themselves during moments of transition. It is the moment that takes them from a place to another: travelling distances in a vehicle signified speed, technology, liberation and reflected the passengers personality.

The Arab Image Foundation has been active since 1997, collecting and promoting the photographic heritage ( 19th century to 1960s 0 of the Middle East and North Africa. Through its diverse set of activities ( exhibitions, publications and videos ), it aims to encourage critical approaches to reading and interpreting photographs.

Previous Stories:
  Celebration in Damascus on the 224th anniversary of the US National Day   (9/21/2000)
  Golan weddings in ICRC photo exhibition   (6/3/2000)
  Syrian information minister confers with Arab news agencies federation chief   (5/30/2000)

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