A celebration of cultures in motion
A weeklong travelling photography exhibition titled "ACCU Asia-Pacific ESD Photo Message Contest: Celebration of Our Living Culture" was held recently at the National Museum.
The contest and the travelling exhibition is planned to contribute to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). ACCU stands for Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO.
The exhibition featured 80 selected works from over 3,200 entries submitted from 38 Asia-Pacific Countries.
Nine photographs from India; seven from Vietnam; six photographs each from Japan and Thailand; five each from China and Myanmar; four each from Bangladesh and Indonesia; three from Iran; two photographs each from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste and one photograph each from Nepal, Maldives, Lao P.D.R, Mongolia, Micronesia, Palau, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Tajikistan, Tonga, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Cambodia and Fiji were featured at the exhibition.
The aim of the exhibition and contest was to highlight the diverse traditional elements of these regions. Besides depicting traditions of the aboriginals of the Pacific countries, the exhibition features the heritage of Southeast Asian, South Asian and Middle-Eastern countries.
People who are engaged in traditional music, theatre and dance, folklore and myth, social practices, rituals and festive events, traditional handicrafts, cultural spaces such as those for prayers, rituals and congregations have been featured in the photographs.
Main attraction of the exhibition was award-winning photographs. Three Grand Prix winning photographs were Japanese photo-artist Kobayashi Masaru's Praying to the Gods, Chinese Ma Weiwu's Happy Music and Thai Thanavich Kumsopha's Nang Ta Lung.
Adviser to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Rasheda K. Chowdhury inaugurated the weeklong international photography exhibition. The show was jointly organised by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) and the Japanese embassy in Dhaka. Among the distinguished guests were Japanese Ambassador Masayuki Inoue and ACCU Director General Kunio Sato.
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