Squirrep (squirrel reports)…
Part of the “Networking Europe” project I’ve been co-managing since July 2008, my NGO (AIE-Quiz) organized a photo contest titled “Unity in Diversity”, in partnership with the online photo magazine “Camera Obscura”. Actually the photo contest was my idea back 2 years ago, when the coordinating organization was still working on the project’s grant application. In brief: the “Networking Europe” project is an international partnership between NGOs in Turkey, Romania, Italy and Spain & aims at promoting the European Union among Turkish youth. It included several activities such as: conducting surveys, editing informative brochures and best practices booklets, organizing a seminar etc.
In order to add a more interactive and creative dimension to our initiative, the project included a photography contest on EU-related aspects. Because we wanted to get a glimpse of youth’s views on the EU, we thought it would be a good idea to ask for their visions and opinions in a form that would as well stimulate their creativity. Each project partner organized the competition in his respective country, selecting the best photos and offering prizes to the most inspired competitors. Then we jointly decided upon the best pictures to be included in the photography exhibition organized in Izmit this month. As well, we included some of the photos in the best practices booklet, for the readers to also get a factual side of what EU programs and projects really mean.
The winner of my organization’s photo contest is Melinda Nagy and below you have her photos. These pics prove that “Unity in Diversity” is not only the abstract motto of the European Union, but a palpable reality Europeans encounter every day. Differences are so many and are exactly what make life and people fascinating. So the message we tried to convey through this photo contest’s thematic was that of…celebrating diversity !
According to Melinda’s comments, the first pic (“Teddybear”) was taken in an extremely poor Roma community in Romania and for her the scene symbolizes the capacity of humans to enjoy the same simple things (like an old teddybear), regardless of their ethnicity, economic status or other such criteria. Childhood is basically the same and its innocence is not spoiled by hardship or by the differences between individuals.
The second photo (“Couple”) was taken in Paris and it represents for her a model of cohabitation in a metropolis dominated by the overwhelming diversity of its people. Only by accepting, respecting and integrating differences can we live together with people differing from us. And in the case of that couple, love is the factor transgressing and unifying differences, creating a unity in diversity.
Congrats, Melinda ! 
