Opening of the exhibition “Equality through the lens of a camera” in Cahul

A photo exhibition has been launched in Cahul, gathering the works of the 13 participants in the boot camp “Equality through the lens of a camera”, where they learned how to become gender equality and human rights advocates in the society, using photography for this purpose, while also giving them the opportunity to try out and master portrait shooting, storytelling photography and photo exhibitions.

During a year marked by COVID-19, the participants presented their own vision of gender equality in order to raise public awareness on this issue. They visited different communities from Cahul municipality and searched for protagonists to create their own essays and stories.

The event took place in the square of “Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu” State University as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign.

Doroteea-Liubovi Pavel, student at Ioan-Vodă Theoretical High School of Cahul spoke about her experience and told what impressed her during the photo camp: “While we were taking pictures of her, Mrs Alexandra Piscunov was sharing her experience as a Mayor of Vadul lui Isac. She spoke about her daily activities, reforms she was implementing and, frankly speaking, I am impressed to see the daily progress. I was impressed by the people who were inspired by Mrs Piscunov, people who wanted to change their community. While taking pictures of her, we captured both visual elements, and her words.”

Gabriel Buyuklyu, student, Vasile Alecsandri Theoretical High School of Colibași village, spoke about the importance of young people to fight inequalities in the society. “In my photo, you can see Mrs Tatiana, a bus driver, who is managing a business and, while transporting passengers, she is also transporting goods for sale. Via this photo we wanted to dismantle the stereotype that women cannot drive and to show that women can do anything they want.”

The participants who took photographs at “Equality Through the Lens of a Camera” camp in Cahul have previously exhibited their works at individual exhibitions in their communities.