Swedish NGO unveils global photo exhibit

A photography exhibit organized by a Swedish non-profit and featuring snapshots of daily life around the world will open simultaneously on publicity screens in 22 countries on Monday.

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"A Day in the World" will be shown for just one day on more than 85,000 screens around the world as of Monday at midnight local time.

The 45 snapshots included in the exhibition were selected from 100,000 received by Stockholm-based non-profit Aday.org.

All of them were taken on the same day, May 15th, by amateur and professional photographers in 165 countries.

A book featuring 1,000 photos will also be published in October, with a preface written by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"The aim is to show that there are more things that unite us than divide us," one of the promoters of the project, Swedish photographer Jeppe Wikström, told AFP.

In November 2012 an exhibition tour will be launched at Kulturhuset, a multi-purpose culture venue in Stockholm. The exhibition will then travel around the world.

The project has been endorsed by a string of Swedish and international celebrities and political figures.

"We are more aware of each other than ever before in the history of human life," said Swedish singer, songwriter and producer Robyn, according to Aday.org's website

"Now it's a fact that there are so many different ways to look at the world. Aday.org puts this in focus. Half of all people on this planet are women. I'm curious to see how we will define ourselves in this experiment."

"Seeing the world through thousands of prisms on the same day will make us realize the diversity as well as the commonality of humanity," Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and former Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, said on the organization website.

The day-long exhibition opening on Monday is to be shown on some of the most famous screens in the world, including those in Times Square in New York and Europe's biggest screen in Liverpool.

The images can also be viewed on the Aday.org website.

The Local/AFP
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