With UNICEF Support: Through Photography About Opportunities

The exhibition 'Through Photography About Opportunities' has opened at the Academy of Fine Arts gallery in Sarajevo, featuring photographs taken at workshops for children with and without disabilities, which were realized during the summer with the support of UNICEF by photographers Željko Keko Budimir, Haris Čalkić, and Amer Kapetanović, reports the Patria News Agency.

As part of the 'Let's Talk About Opportunities' campaign, the workshops held in several Bosnian cities, followed by mini-exhibitions, truly showed how children, when given the opportunity, can showcase all their potential through photography and highlight opportunities over limitations.

-One of UNICEF's key tasks is advocacy and raising public awareness about the rights and opportunities of every child, including children from vulnerable groups. And to convey this message to higher levels of decision-making, children themselves help us the most. They provide us with key information and a detailed insight into their needs and expectations. Much of this information is hidden or revealed in the photographs you will see, said Dr. Ayman Abulaban, UNICEF Representative in BiH, at the opening.

The opening was emotional, and one of the organizers of the workshops, the exhibition itself, and the 'Photo of the Year in BiH 2014' festival, within which the 'Through Photography About Opportunities' exhibition was opened with UNICEF's support, Haris Čalkić, addressed the children whose photographs were exhibited at the Academy. Given that they had become friends during the workshops, he gave them a 'stern' message:

-Since, out of the three of us, I was always the one who was supposed to be strict during the workshops, and now I am supposed to say something about photography as a means of social integration, I can best say it in these words: Guys, if someone doesn't win the 'Photo of the Year' competition in the next year or two, I'll be mad at you!