Gallery Brings Global Cultures to AUC

By: Nour Hassan

Portraying a variety of worldwide events, ‘Current Images 2’ is the second collection to be showcased from the archival collection of the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) this semester, and will be on display at the Photographic Gallery until Jan. 23.

“Each image conveys a striking message, the photographs are simple yet very powerful. I found the descriptions next to each photograph useful in helping to contextualize the moments captured by each image,” said Mariam Dayhoum, a graphic design freshman at AUC.

The exhibition portrays a variety of captured moments ranging from hard news to soft news, and spanning over many nations such as Japan, Nepal, USA, Syria, Israel, Gaza, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Ukraine.

“In order to avert the focus of the gallery from tragic events, we attempted to select photographs from fashion and sports in order to alleviate and diversify the selection,” said Noura Bahgat, curator of the gallery.

Many of the photographs in the gallery depict scenes form the Syrian civil war; one photograph shows a Syrian man carrying his wounded daughter across the boarder into Turkey on Sept. 12.

Some images convey cultural and ritual events; one portrays village women carrying torches into the sea at the annual Shirahama Ama Women Divers Festival near Tokyo, Japan.

The Shirahama Ama is a ritual through which women pray for a blessed harvest for future fishing seasons.

Another image captures an Orthodox Jewish bride and her relatives during a traditional ceremony in Israel on June 27.

“I enjoyed the balance of images at the gallery. They weren’t all focused on tragic events; many showed moments of success, happiness, and celebration,” said Youmna Hashem, Integrated Marketing Communication sophomore.

Since 1985, EPA has been covering worldwide events and has an archival collection of over 3 million images. The images cover news, sports, fashion, entertainment, current events, and international issues.