In partnership with the World Innovation Summit for Education (Wise) HOPE exhibition, the Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU-Q) will today present ‘The Power of Images’- a lecture and debate with National Geographic photographer Reza at 6pm at the VCU-Q hall.
The event is open to the public.
Reza is one of the best-known photojournalists on the international scene.
Forced into exile from Iran in 1981, he lives in Paris and has been travelling the world for 30 years.
Photojournalist for National Geographic since 1991, Reza has criss-crossed more than 100 countries, photographing conflicts, revolutions and human catastrophes.
His eyewitness testimony has been distributed through international media (including National Geographic, Time, Stern, Newsweek, El Pais, Paris-Match, Géo), and in books, exhibitions and documentaries by his own agency, Webistan, created in 1992.
In 1983, Reza initiated photographic training programmes in Pakistani refugee camps, which was the beginning of his personal voluntary involvement, leading him to found the NGO Aina in 2001.
Aina is committed to children’s education and to training women for jobs in the media and
communication sector.
The arts play an important role in raising awareness, in rallying people around shared values and inspiring them to strive towards their ideals.
The HOPE exhibition is a retrospective of 30 years of Reza’s visual narratives that, in the photographer’s words, “reveal the invisible boundaries where joy verges on despair, where conflict meets indulgence, but where life always triumphs.”
HOPE presents 80 photographs – including several created exclusively for the Wise publication Learning a Living: Radical Innovation in Education for Work.
The prints, presented as diptychs and triptychs, tell many stories from many parts of the world, ranging from the Panjshir Valley of Afghanistan to the River Amur in eastern Asia and the heights of Algeria’s Assekrem plateau.
“Each image documents a significant life-moment, an encounter with women, men and children whose expressions and gestures speak for the whole of humanity,” Reza explained.
The HOPE exhibition is displayed at the Sheraton Park on the Corniche until December 15.