Exhibition and Workshop Opportunities for Documentary Photographers in Palestine

The Open Society Institute (OSI) invites documentary photographers from Palestine to submit work for inclusion in a traveling exhibition entitled Moving Walls: A Documentary Photography Exhibition. The selected photographer will be exhibited at the Ethnographic and Art Museum at Birzeit University in Birzeit alongside seven photographers included in previous Moving Walls exhibitions. The exhibit will open on August 29, 2007 and will be on view until September 26, 2007.

We are also collecting information from local photographers interested in participating in a free photography training workshop that will coincide with the exhibition. The 5-day advanced photography workshop will be held from August 25-29, 2007 at Birzeit University.

Eligibility:

-Photographer must be Palestinian or have a long-term commitment to living and working in Palestine.
-Projects to be considered for inclusion in the Moving Walls exhibition must document a social justice or human rights issue

About the exhibition:
Moving Walls: A Documentary Photography Exhibition is the first international tour of an annual exhibition series produced by Open Society Institute (OSI), a private operating and grant-making foundation based in New York. The exhibition series is an artistic interpretation of the obstacles—such as political oppression, economic instability, and racism—that society often erects and the struggles to tear those barriers down. The international tour was launched at Al Riwaq Art Gallery in Bahrain on May 2, 2006 and is traveling to locations in the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia for the next two to three years. The show includes seven photographers included in previous Moving Walls exhibitions, as well as a local photographer for each tour location. To learn more about the exhibition, please visit our website at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/photography/focus_areas/mw/international

About the workshop:

INSTRUCTOR: Jessica Murray, Rula Halawani
LOCATION: Birzeit University, Photography Department
DATES: August 25-29, 2007

The Open Society Institute, working with Al-liquindoi (see below), is sponsoring a free photography workshop for local documentary photographers. The aim of this workshop is to help connect serious photographers with an established professional and create a dynamic learning experience in which participants are encouraged to develop their own eye and think and work like professionals. At the same time, we hope the workshop will lay the foundation for a network among photographers who are interested in dialogue and exchange.

On the first day of the workshop each participant will be asked to choose a story that they wish to develop during the five days. The workshop will be divided between classroom sessions and time spent photographing and editing the work. Using either digital or C-41 negative film, participants should be prepared to come to the each day’s session with the previous days’ selection of images in hand so that they can be looked at and edited as a group. By the end of the workshop each participant should have produced a small body of work on a specific subject matter that can be curated into a public projection. With the participant’s approval, this same selection of photographs will be posted on the Al-liquindoi on-line gallery

The workshop is open to a maximum of 12 participants, who will be selected upon portfolio review. The workshop will be taught in Arabic and English; simultaneous Arabic translation will be provided, if necessary, so please let us know your language requirements in advance.

For information about previous Al-liquindoi photography workshops held in conjunction with Moving Walls, please visit: http://www.al-liquindoi.com/proyectos2.html.

Application instructions for the EXHIBITION:

E-mail or send the following information in English or Arabic to:

Vera Tamari
Ethnographic and Art Museum, Director
Birzeit University
P.O. Box 14
Birzeit, Palestine
Phone: 02 298 2976, or 02 2982000 extension 2562 (ask for Misbah)
vtamari@birzeit.edu

DEADLINE: July 12, 2007

1) your name
2) your e-mail, mailing address, and phone number
3) 1 page bio
4) 1 page description of your project
5) 15 low resolution files of your project (alternately, you may send a link to your website)

Application instructions for the WORKSHOP:

Please e-mail the following information in English or Arabic to:

Rula Halawani
Head Photography Department
Media Center
Birzeit University
P.O. Box 14
Phone 02 2982000 extension 2556
rhalawani@birzeit.edu

DEADLINE: August 2, 2007

1) your name
2) your contact information (e-mail, mailing address, and phone number)
3) 1 page bio (if you are applying for the workshop and will require a translator to Arabic, please indicate that in your bio)
4) 1 page description of your experience with photography and why you are interested in participating in the workshop
5) 15 low resolution files of your work (alternately, you may send a link to your website)