CULTURE | Sunday, 15 July 2007

REZA photographs to move to MCC

By Teodor Reljic
The work of renowned Iranian photojournalist Reza, which has been adorning the Sliema-St Julians promenade, will now be moved to the Mediterranean Conference Center until the end of the month. The exhibition, featuring 80 works, is entitled One World, One Tribe and is endorsed by UNESCO.
A reception was given on Thursday at the US Ambassador’s residence in Attard, where a varied group of invitees included journalists, student reps from the University and others.
Encouraged to come in casual clothing, we gleefully gathered around the confectionery table in a beautiful room at the villa, where we were also encouraged to “help ourselves” in spite of the waiting service and were joined by Hon Molly Bordonaro who mingled freely, completing the overall inviting sentiment of American informality that was to be central to the afternoon event, which proposed an open discussion with the photographer himself - who was present with his family – following a presentation that detailed his humanitarian initiatives, which includes work with the NGO Aina and the education and encouragement of women in Afghanistan. “They make up half the population,” Reza said during his speech, “and nobody is telling their story. All we get are the man’s stories, which are predictably stories of wars and generals. And when the men are gone away to fight in the trenches, there’s a whole world going on that women have to regulate. I found it crucial to be able to teach these women to transmit their stories through writing, radio and film.” The result culminated in the Emmy-nominated documentary Afghanistan Unveiled, which was shown on the American station PBS as well as National Geographic’s TV Stations. A radio station, Afghan Women Voices, was also set up.
Reza was a smooth orator, relating his artistic mission and captivating exploits with clarity, through an endearing accent that meshes Iranian with French – based in France, Reza has been awarded the Chevalier de L’ Ordre National du Merite’(France’s highest civilian honour) in November 2005 for distinguished services in a public or private capacity by the former French president Jacques Chirac. He described Malta as being of special interest to him and to be relevant to his work because “it is a country that has always been at the crossroads of history, it is not isolated and one need only to listen to the language to see this. I hear people speak and go ‘I recognize that word’, you pick up a word from here and there. It is a reminder that we simply cannot close our eyes to what is happening in other countries.”
The title of the exhibition comes from Saadi, a 13th century Persian poet. “One world, one tribe means that we are all part of the same organism, so if one part of the world suffers, we all suffer.”
Having worked for Newsweek, Time, Life and National Geographic magazines, he has been consistently dedicated to transferring the truth, traveling to struggling countries and even being imprisoned for three years. “We need to remind ourselves that information is power and that the 21st century is the century of the image – the image will ultimately be the image that will unite us.” He elaborated on how he sees photography and media in general as being crucial in rehabilitating a people’s psychology. “One can help rebuild the physical infrastructures of a country but the fact remains that a child whose parents have been murdered by invading forces will only use these newly-established infrastructures as a stepping stone to avenge his parents. We need to consider the destruction done on this level, on the level of the individual’s soul. And what is needed to rehabilitate that goes beyond the physical.”
Reza gets his pictures after a complete immersion into the cultures he is visiting, “they say that a picture speaks a thousand words. But I also need to exchange a thousand words before I get my picture.”
There was an awkward moment when Hon Bordonaro felt compelled to wedge in a justification for the US’ involvement in Iraq, which was parried kindly by Reza, who invoked Gandhi and was diplomatic enough to say that he agrees in military involvement as long as it is done with “surgical” precision and focus.
The exhibition has moved to the MCC yesterday, and will be on display until 31 July, throughout the whole day. Films will also be screened every day during the exhibit each day, starting from 7pm.

www.ainaworld.org
www.webistan.org
www.creativeurope.com/malta