Photographers from Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh and Mali will get their chance to display their photos when the seventh IMAGES festival opens in Denmark in late August.
The photo project “Things You Can’t Buy with Money” is part of this festival, which will run from August 30 to September 7 and will feature work by photographers.
The organizer is the Danish Centre for Culture and Development (CKU), and on the team is Danish photographer Stephen Freiheit, who recently visited Myanmar.
“The energy here is so fresh and unpolished. It has been very important to get Myanmar in the project, as developments occur so quickly here. A year from now everything will look different,” he said.
“The galleries will have moved and there will be new artists. The kettle is boiling, so it was logical to come out here and meet the photographers.”
Freiheit has worked as a photographer since he finished film school in Prague 17 years ago. Since then, his portfolio has been filled with portraits and reportage trips to Uganda, Pakistan and Sarajevo, among others. Nearly eight years ago, he started organising workshops for photographers in other countries, including Nepal.
“At the first workshop, I thought there would be about 10 to 15 people, but then almost 70 committed young people showed up. Mind you, on their free day,” Mr Freiheit said.
All in all, 40 to 50 photographic works by various artists from the four countries will be exhibited in the project and Mr Freiheit will select the images in cooperation with CKU. For each image selected, the photographer will receive an honorarium of US$40.
But the project itself is only a start for both Stephen and CKU, who are considering several projects in Myanmar.
“‘Things You Can’t Buy with Money’ is a project that will help us get in touch with professionals and artists. We hope to build on these contacts when we get started with several activities,” said Jacob Myschetzky, an international director in CKU.
Future projects are already on the drawing board, but nothing is certain yet. CKU expects the projects to stretch over a period of six years, where the focus will be to develop the already existing cultural sector and to provide more people in Myanmar with opportunities to experience art and culture in different genres
CKU already has similar projects in other countries, including Nepal, where it has supported a workshop for photojournalists and photographic training of inexperienced Nepalese youth in collaboration with Today’s Youth Asia
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