Astana hosts World Press Photo Exhibition

World Press Photo exhibition 2013 has started in Astana. It is held in Central Asia for the first time, Tengrinews reports. The exhibition is a part of the Human Rights Day celebration and is spearheaded by the OSCE Center together with the Embassies of Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and the United States. It is held on December 10-26 at Keruen (at Dostyk Str. near Baiterek monument) in Astana and on December 28 - January 11 in Ecomuseum (#47 Bukhar Zhyrau Av.) in Karaganda. The renowned exhibition brought 150 prize-winning photographs from the World Press Photo contest. The photographs capture very significant moments in human lives and reflect events of the year 2012. On December 10, 1948, the United Nations signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). “The picture is worth thousand words. (…) Such photographs help us remember this important day. Today, on December 10th, the world is celebrating the International Day of Human Rights. Human rights are the greatest treasure and it does not matter were one lives, be it Kazakhstan, the Netherlands or Syria,” said the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Kazakhstan Hans Drisser. He also hoped that thousands of Astana citizens “will spend several minutes of their lives diving into a different reality”. The Ambassador believes this exhibition will affect people’s behavior and actions in a positive way. The organizers note that the World Press Photo in many ways has established the contemporary standards in photojournalism. The main goal of the competition is to inspire humanism through photography bridging the gap between the professionals and the audience. This year, the jury chose 103 photographs out of 5000 from 124 countries. “All the prize-winning photographs are assembled into an exhibition that travels to 45 countries over the course of a year, and are published in our yearbook,” the World Press Photo website says. The World Press Photo was founded in 1955 as an independent non-profit organization. The world's largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest is held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.