"Moving Walls: A Documentary Photography Exhibition" Opens at Al Riwaq Art Gallery

Contact:
Al Riwaq Art Gallery: Bayan Al Barak Kanoo or Sara Fayed, +973 17717441
Open Society Institute: Gregor Meiering +962 7 77444066, or Amy Yenkin, +1 212 548 0339

Manama, Bahrain—Sponsored by the Open Society Institute's Middle East and North Africa Initiative and Documentary Photography Project, a new traveling exhibit premiering in Bahrain aims to spark debate about the role of documentary photography in effecting social change.

The show, Moving Walls: A Documentary Photography Exhibition, will open on May 2 at Al Riwaq Gallery under the patronage of H. H. Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defense Force. Sponsored by the Open Society Institute, a private foundation based in New York City, the exhibit will feature the work of seven photographers, selected from over 60 whose photographs appeared in Moving Walls exhibitions in the United States. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Open Society Institute and Al Riwaq Gallery will sponsor workshops for local photojournalists and students.

After Bahrain, Moving Walls will tour other parts of the Middle East, including Dubai, Amman, Beirut, and Cairo. It will then travel to the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Moving Walls: A Documentary Photography Exhibition features portraiture, collaborative projects, social documentary work, photo montage, and war reportage. Lori Grinker pairs portraits of veterans with their own words to explore the aftermath of war. Likewise, Eric Gottesman collaborates with his subjects to create portraits that reflect how people living with AIDS perceive themselves. Gary Fabiano, Andrew Lichtenstein, and James Nubile use photo montage, juxtaposing images of people, objects, scenes, and words, to present composite narratives of social and political issues. Aleksandr Glyadyelov and Edward Grazda pursue projects in communities to which they are personally connected: Glyadyelov, the son of a Soviet army officer, makes pictures in Ukraine, where he has lived since 1974, while Grazda, after spending years working in Muslim countries, returns home to photograph Muslims in New York .

The photographers in this exhibition use diverse techniques to reveal more than can be conveyed in a single image on the front page of a newspaper. They encourage the viewer to study a body of work, to consider what it says, and—if inspired or provoked—to act. The exhibition, together with concurrent public programming and training workshops for local photographers and students, seeks to create a cross-cultural dialogue about the medium of documentary photography and its potential as a tool for advocacy.

Opening Reception

May 2, 2006, 7:00 p.m.

Location

Al Riwaq Art Gallery
3 Osama Bin Zaid Avenue
Adliya, Bahrain
www.alriwaqgallery.org

The gallery is open to the public 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m., Saturday–Thursday, May 3–31, 2006.

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The Open Society Institute, a private operating and grantmaking foundation, works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. OSI works in over 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

The Middle East/North Africa Initiative at OSI supports organizations across the Arab region which promote human rights, women's empowerment, education, and arts and culture. Through grantmaking, training workshops, and the Moving Walls exhibition series, the Documentary Photography Project supports photographers whose work addresses social justice and human rights issues that coincide with OSI’s mission.

Al Riwaq Art Gallery is a platform for arts and culture that brings into focus ideas of a national and regional identity by nurturing the creativity of Bahrain and establishing a forum for local, regional, and international cultural exchange.