Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center launches an initiative "See the picture"
ABU DHABI, April 9, 2017 (WAM) – The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center launched the “Photo Witness” initiative, with the aim of devoting the presence of the photograph as a witness that enhances the concept of cultural identity, due to its ability to preserve human experiences and cultural memory, and to spread awareness about the importance of building a photo archive that monitors the features of the unique development process of the UAE and its capital, Abu Dhabi.
The initiative seeks to highlight the role of the image as a cultural documentation tool, parallel to written texts, by organizing photography exhibitions, dialogue sessions and cultural seminars, publishing documentary publications, and launching photographic competitions, to consolidate the presence of the image in the cultural and cognitive scene, especially with the effective movement witnessed in the art of photography in the UAE.
His Excellency Saeed Hamdan Al Taniji, Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language, said that the image is an important legacy, which we must not only preserve and make available to generations, but also inspire them with the skills of reading it, ways to understand it, and how to comprehend its messages. Let this heritage be transformed into applied knowledge, useful in the renaissance of society and the progress of the knowledge-based economy.
He added that based on this awareness, and in line with the principles of the Year of the Family, the Image Witness Initiative was keen to diversify its activities and involve all segments of society, with a focus on youth and young people, to complement the center’s efforts to enrich the publishing sector, raise the value of cultural documentation, and contribute to qualifying a leadership generation that knows its authentic cultural heritage and the aesthetics associated with the Arabic language and culture, and empowers it with the tools of the cultural industries to understand, innovate, and have the ability to invest the past in serving the present and shaping the future.
The Center chose the historic landmark “Qasr Al Hosn” as the focus of the first session of the initiative, as it is Abu Dhabi’s oldest and most prominent landmark, based on the first known photo taken of it, by the American Samuel Zwemer, who visited Abu Dhabi in 1901, and described the palace, which over the decades formed a symbol of leadership, heritage, and national identity, as an “exciting fortress.” This image represents the beginning of modern visual documentation of the history of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The programs of the first session of the initiative include events and activities, the most important of which is the “Photography Competition” to document Qasr Al-Hosn from different artistic angles, within four categories that include Qasr Al-Hosn as an architectural landmark, black and white photography, light and shadow, creative editing using artificial intelligence tools, and an interactive initiative that includes digital questions and answers held during the Qasr Al-Hosn Festival with the aim of promoting reading and cultural interaction.
The programs of the “Image Witness” initiative include dialogue sessions and cultural seminars in which an elite group of photographic artists and researchers in history and arts participate, discussing the role of the image in documentation, preserving collective memory, re-presenting heritage visually in a contemporary creative language, and promoting cultural dialogue between the UAE and the world, in addition to organizing a photographic exhibition entitled “Layers of Memory” that presents historical and contemporary images documenting Abu Dhabi’s journey and its comprehensive renaissance, and its cultural and urban transformations, using an interactive display experience that brings together Between still images and visual projections. A documentary book containing the images selected within the initiative is scheduled to be published.
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