Note to Correspondents

EXHIBIT OF INDIGENOUS ARTWORK, PHOTOGRAPHS OPENS

 

ON 15 MAY AT United Nations HEADQUARTERS

 

An art and photographic exhibition created by indigenous people from around the world will open with a formal ceremony and reception on Tuesday, 15 May, at 6:15 p.m. in the Main Gallery of the General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby.

The joint exhibit is presented in celebration of the sixth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.  It consists of a display of artwork, paintings, ceramic masks, pottery, beadwork and carvings by contemporary indigenous artists, as well as wooden masks and barkcloths from the Museum for African Art in New York City.  A section of the exhibit, sponsored by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity of the United Nations Environment Programme, is devoted to climate change and its impact on indigenous local communities.

The exhibit will be opened by Johan Schölvinck, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.  This will be followed by a cultural event featuring performances by indigenous artists from Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and the United States.

Also on display is an exhibit of photographs by winners of the National Geographic All Roads Film and Photography Festival which highlights the work of photographers from Bangladesh, Guatemala, Iran and the United States.

This joint exhibition is organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information in cooperation with the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.  The reception and cultural performance is sponsored by the NGO Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at tel.:  212 963 8531, or Liza Wichmann at tel.:  212 963 0089.

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For information media • not an official record