A NEW VANTAGE POINT

A photography exhibition showcases the limitless possibilities of the medium to capture the world around us.

By Helen Jones

Vantage Point Sharjah 10, a photography exhibition by Sharjah Art Foundation, will open in Al Hamriyah Studios on September 16. First launched in 2013 to encourage public engagement with photography as an artistic medium, VPS is an annual open-call exhibition dedicated to supporting up-and-coming photographers from under-represented regions.

The 10th edition called for works that celebrate photography’s ability to perceive social realities through different perspectives. The group exhibition will present different forms and approaches to photography, from photojournalism to photo essays, from film to digital, and experimental photography. An international jury will assess the works for the Vantage Point Awards.

Last year, VPS9 presented almost 200 images by 53 photographers from 30 countries. Bangladeshi photographer Reyad Abedin won the photojournalism and documentary award for works from his In Search of a Lost Tune and The Name of My City is Dust, Smoke and Life series. Abedin’s surroundings feature prominently in his work, he reflects upon the relationship between humans and nature.

“My works try to show that any unmediated intervention or radical change in the environment does not only result in devastating effects, but poses a threat to the human race itself. We do not, and cannot, exist in absolute isolation,” he says.

Every year, hundreds of families on Hatia Island, in the Bay of Bengal, lose their homes to riverbank erosion. Some have moved inland; others are forced to leave the island. In this image (above), some islanders return by boat from Noakhali on the mainland. “I try to capture the emotions and memories of a displaced person; memories of home, and the roots they have lost,” he says.