Diana Shanaa
Staff Reporter
Photo from gallery - PHOTO COURTESY OF THOMAS HARTWELL
Sunday Sept. 18 marked the opening of the Photographic Gallery Exhibition, previewing the works of 26 different photographers from the archives of the Echoes collection at the Abdul Latif Jameel Hall.
The exhibition which serves to revisit of some of the collections by a group of professional photographers, boasted the work of the following photographers: Aladin Abdel Naby, Faruk Aksoy, Robert Azzi, Walter Chappell, Reem Al Faisal, John Feeney, Shems Friedlander, Ara Güler, Thomas Hartwell, Lehnert & Landrock, Enric Marti, Jaime Mota, Lucie Pavlovich, Nagla Samir, RandaShaath, Alfred Stieglitz and John C. Tordai among others.
The exhibition included various different photographs, most of which conveyed a historical event, varying from successful revolutionary moments to solemn and genuine calamities throughout history.
One of the very interesting pieces was about the Palestinian Al Aqsa Intifada. The photograph captured the grievances felt by the residents of Jerusalem having seen all dismembered bodies and slain people all over the holy streets of Jerusalem. Osama Silwadi took the picture on Dec. 12, 2000.
“While I found two of the photographs to be rather unfitting, I find the overall idea of capturing these moments in time to be extremely inspiring,” remarked Farah El Meligui, a business senior who visited the exhibilition.
She spoke of two images in particular that were captured from natural settings. El Meligui believes they were “out of place” in comparison with the remaining pieces that were themed around political events.
“Every now and then, we try to revive some of the old collections in the form of educational material,” explained Noura Bahgat, the organizer of the exhibition.
She further elaborated, “The work of these professional photographers is kept at the Rare Books Library and revived every one or two years.”
Shems Friedlander, the director of the event and a participant, explained that the event was merely a re-visitation of previous collections, which explains the theme’s name Echoes.
The exhibition will continue to run until Oct. 20. Students and faculty members are welcome to visit the gallery at any time during the week, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
