Note to Correspondents

EXHIBIT OF INDIGENOUS ARTWORK and PHOTOGRAPHS OPENS 22 April,

Indigenous cinema 21 April 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, 22 April, at 6:15 p.m. in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby.

The joint exhibit is presented in celebration of the seventh session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.  It consists of a display of artworks, paintings, photographs and carvings by contemporary indigenous artists, as well as artefacts from the Museum for African Art in New York City.

The exhibit will be opened by Johan Schölvinck, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Social and Economic 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 Australia, Bolivia, Greenland, Kenya, Mexico, the Russian Federation and the United States.

Also on display is an exhibit of award-winning photo essays by winners of the National Geographic All Roads Film and Photography Festival which highlights the work of photographers from China, Mexico and Nigeria.

A special screening of films from the 2007 All Roads Film Festival will also take place in the Main Gallery on 21 April, featuring three remarkable films by filmmakers from Ethiopia, India and Mexico-United States.

All Roads is a National Geographic initiative created to provide an international platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture artists to share their cultures, stories and perspectives through the power of film and photography.  All Roads is an exciting, groundbreaking film festival, photography programme and film grant programme rolled into one.

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.  Additional sponsors for the reception and cultural performance include the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Tribal Link Foundation, and the NGO Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

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

* *** *

For information media • not an official record