Image Festival Amman’s 10th edition explores theme of ‘gratitude’

AMMAN — Following two long years of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, the theme of the 10th edition of Image Festival Amman is “gratitude”, according to curator of the festival and founder of Darat Al Tasweer Linda Khoury.

“The theme also partly comes from an inner personal feeling of gratitude, as we’re thankful to everyone who took part in our journey and allowed us to keep going despite various challenges,” Khoury told The Jordan Times.

She added that the festival aims to raise awareness about the importance of documentary photography, create a community of “capable and talented” Jordanian photographers and connect them with international publishers. 

“Diversity” is also an important feature distinguishing this year’s edition, which hosts photographers from various countries around the world, including Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, France and Brazil, Khoury continued. 

The festival’s opening, which took place on Thursday, featured the World Press Photo Exhibition 2022.

Exhibitions Manager and Curator at World Press Photo (WPP) Raphael Dias e Silva said that the exhibited photos belong to the 24 winners of WPP’s annual contest, who were selected by a jury of experts out of over 4,000 photographers from 130 countries.

The exhibition covers diverse topics, providing perspective on everything that’s going on in the world, such as climate change, civil rights and stories of resilience from indigenous communities, he told The Jordan Times.

“Our mission is to connect the world to the stories that matter through photography, which is a universal language that cuts through the noise,” Silva added.

Commenting on this edition’s theme, he noted that “WPP is constantly grateful for the risks that journalists put themselves through to do this kind of work every day”.

The festival includes 22 group and solo photography exhibitions distributed over 15 cultural locations in Jordan, Khoury said, adding that it also features a series of hands-on workshops, talks, lectures and “crash courses” given by a number of local and foreign photography specialists. 

Ross Deverson, a well-travelled Canadian photographer, is participating in the festival with an exhibition featuring Bhutan’s Trongsa festival. 

He noted that photography is a “unique” medium of communication.

“Photography, which literally means ‘writing with light’, allows you to tell a story or deliver a meaningful message without using any words,” Deverson told the Jordan Times.

Egyptian photographers Samar Baiomy and Mohamed Tarekare are participating in the festival with an exhibition titled “Memory of a Place”, exploring Al Max, which is a neighbourhood overlooking the sea in Alexandria, Egypt.

“We worked on this project for over two years to document and preserve the identity of Al Max as an important historical landmark, while conveying the connection between this place and the human memory of people who have been living there for years,” Baiomy told The Jordan Times.

In addition to photos and videos, the two photographers used virtual reality technology in their documentary project.

“Visitors can walk through the neighbourhood and listen to the stories behind every door through the voices of its inhabitants,” Tareq told The Jordan Times.

The timetable for the festival, which lasts until September 30, can be found on its official website: imagefestivalamman.com.