United Nations: Stories told through photography

Exhibition organised to mark 70 years of the United Nations

LAHORE: Photography is a universal language, United Nations Information Centre Director Vittorio Cammarota said on Thursday.

He was speaking at an exhibition featuring photographs chronicling the work of the United Nations (UN) over seven decades. Cammarota said the exhibition had been organised to celebrate 70 years of the UN. He said We the People, one of the sections of the display, had been touring the world. Cammarota said it was a matter of pride for Lahoris that the exhibition had come to their city. He said Pakistani People and the United Nations, the other half of the display, showcased the work of 19 UN agencies operating in the nation. Cammarota said photography was a universal language. He expressed hope that youngsters would be inspired to “interact” with international development after viewing the photographs.

UN Resident Coordinator Jackie Badock explained why one of the sections had been titled We the People. She said the preamble of the UN charter commenced with these words. Badock said the UN had been guiding its 193 members in accordance with the principles of its founding premise.

Education Minister Rana Mashhood, who inaugurated the event, said the photographs showed aspects of global events that had not been seen. He said this was usually not reported. Mashhood said he considered promoting such activities his duty. He said the UN had collaborated with the government over scores of projects.

Quddus Mirza of the National College of Arts said the photographs portrayed a positive side of events that had become an inextricable part of daily news bulletins. He said similar initiatives should be taken more often.

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology student Yusuf Ali Chaudhry said he had particularly enjoyed the black-and-white photographs on display. He said this was so because the compositions were simple and they depicted certain stories better than colour pictures.

The We the People section of the exhibition chronicled the humanitarian efforts of the organisation since its inception. The pictures displayed in the section captured various moments from human history. These included a woman being inoculated against smallpox by UN officials in Congo in 1962 and another showing Palestinian refugees waiting for conveyance in 1949.

The Pakistani People and the UN section was divided in several categories. These included peacekeeping missions, health, governance and rule of law. Some photographs showed Pakistani peacekeepers partaking in relief efforts in Liberia, Haiti and Ivory Coast among other countries. Other pictures captured scenes from the nation’s remote areas such as a child riding a swing in North Waziristan and women in labour at a medical facility in Bannu.

The exhibition will conclude on May 17.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2015.