Youth lens on the Silk Roads. Best photos from the International Silk Roads Photo Contest, 3rd edition

Abstract

This photo album, Youth Lens on the Silk Roads, is the result of the 3rd edition of the international photo contest Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads, organized by the UNESCO Silk Roads Programme, and with the generous support of the China World Peace Foundation. This annual initiative offers young people from all over the world a fantastic opportunity to explore the shared heritage, legacy and spirit of the Silk Roads through the art of photography. The ‘Silk Roads’ is an expression that refers to the vast and complex network of maritime and land routes that have linked East, South, and Southeast Asia, to Central Asia, the Russian Steppes, the Indian Subcontinent, the Iranian and Anatolian Plateaus, and the Arabian Peninsula for thousands of years. They also stretched through North and Northeast Africa, as well as Eastern and Southern Europe, before reaching Western Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. Taking these multifaceted routes as inspiration, the ‘Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest’ uses photography to extend these links into the modern day and, through visualising the legacy of commercial and cultural interactions along them, to foster mutual understanding and promote peace amongst the diverse societies of these regions. The 3rd edition of the Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads coincided with a period of profound global challenges resulting from the impacts of Covid-19. During this time, with the temporary closure of many schools and cultural institutions, young people all over the world faced many barriers to education access and to their engagement with culture, as well as to one another. In light of this, for the 3rd edition of the contest photographers were tasked with exploring the themes of ‘Textiles and Clothing’ and ‘Intercultural Exchanges in the time of Covid-19, Including in the Field of Textiles and Clothing’. Globally, responses to Covid-19 affected many industries important to the Silk Roads, such as textiles and clothing, and curtailed our ability to exchange and interact with one another. This year’s themes invited participants you use their cameras to capture these changes and challenges. Despite these impacts, textiles and clothing remain an important mode of creativity and human expression which link the interactions of the past with our present and future. The resulting photo album gathers together 75 of the very best photos from the two age categories (14-17-year-olds and 18-25-year-olds) which encapsulate the spirit of the contest and highlight the diversity of young people’s perceptions of the Silk Roads’ shared heritage. Through this collection of images, one can discover the rich and diverse legacy of textiles and clothing along the Silk Roads. The contest seeks to reflect the impact of Covid-19 on interaction and exchange, with a view to building our post-pandemic future. UNESCO Catno: 0000380933 https://doi.org/10.54678/DSUE7368 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380933