Yerevan residents now have a chance to see the world with their own eyes. The international famous World Press Photo 2002 is here in Yerevan, hosted by the Moscow Theatre.
The exhibition, first of its kind in Armenia, is offered to the pleasure of the Yerevan residents by the joint efforts of the Caucasus Media Institute, World Press Photo NGO and the support of the Dutch and British governments.
The exhibition comprises 160 selected photos of different photographers from all over the world, and is divided to nine themes, them being General News, Spot News, People in the News, Daily Life, Arts, Sports, Nature, Portraits and Science and Technology. Most photographs that are displayed, though, refer to scenes of hot spots and conflict zones in various parts of the world, among them Afghanistan, Africa, as well as pictures regarding terrorist acts in different parts of the world. The first prize winner of the WPP 2002 is a photo of an one-year old Afghan boy who died of dehydration in a refugee camp in Pakistan, and whose body is being covered by white clothing as part of preparation for his funeral. The picture spotted by Danish photojournalist Erik Refner won the first prize in the People in the News singles contest, and afterwards was recognized as the best one in the collection.
At the official opening of the exhibition January 17 the coordinator of the World Press Photo Ms. Femke Rotteveel said that it is a great pleasure to have the exhibition here in Armenia, bearing in mind that this is the first time the World Press Photo comes to this country. The director of the CMI Vicken Cheterian said that the initiative aims to interest the Armenian photographers in getting more actively involved in the international photo competitions. He expressed a concern over the inactive situation that exists in the local photojournalism sphere, hoping that this exhibition will serve as an impetus for boosting the sphere in Armenia. In this respect the CMI will hold two round tables at the Moscow Movie Theatre on 23-rd and 30-th of January, where the students, photo journalists and photo editors will discuss current issues of the sphere in Armenia. The World Press Photo (WPP), first time in Armenia, may inspire the local photojournalists and convey a new swing to their activity.
Representatives of Armenian mass media, foreign diplomats and reps of international organization attended the opening of the exhibition. The Dutch ambassador to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan (with residence in Tbilisi) also participated in the event. Mr. Hary Molenaar said that this is the first cultural event in Armenia where the Netherlands is involved. Though having quite active cooperation with Armenia in human rights, technical assistance and education spheres, Netherlands, surprisingly, has up to day initiated no cultural events in Armenia, the lack of which is evident. This gap, in Mr. Molenaar’s words, should be in future attached a special attention to by his diplomatic mission.
An Armenian painter, photographer Haroutiun Davitavian said that he is delighted to see the world famous photos in Yerevan, expressing a hope that hereafter the exhibition will be held in Armenia on annual basis. Deputy director of the Moscow movie theatre, Mr. Norayr Azatyan expressed his delight on the occasion, adding that the Caucasus Media Institute (CMI) arranged the exposition of the photo exhibition with high professionally, without hampering the works of the film theatre.
Most of the attendees of the exhibition said that they would want to see photos of Armenian photographers among the exhibited pieces. Although couple of Armenian photojournalists have participated in the WPP contests in previous years, their pictures have not won any prizes yet. This year, by the active propaganda of the CMI, several Armenian photojournalists have submitted their application forms for participating in the contest and have sent their photo collections to the WPP central office in Amsterdam. So the Armenian exposition lovers will have to wait and see whether they will see a scene of, say, an Armenian border guard on the background of Mount Ararat at the crack of dawn next year. What is most important, though, is that the start is given, and the path is open for the Armenian photojournalists to fully plunge into work.
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