The Bhutanese Leading the way.
More than 100 people visited the photo exhibition at Ambient Café on Friday evening to see the photos taken by the Oliver Jammes.
In total 63 breathtaking photos photos were displayed to the public and some of them had captions which included Taktshang Monastery-the guardian of the valley, Thimphu Dzong during summer-the liner on a green sea, Jumolhari seen from Pelela-the summits of the gods, Phobjikha valley-the valley of wonders and the Radio man-the man that people usually see around Thimphu town listening to radio.
Some of the photos displayed at the exhibition are taken from Trashigang to the base camp of Jumolhari and goes on as far as the Tibetan border.
For interested buyers the smaller photos were sold at Nu 6000 for Bhutanese and USD 100 for foreigners, for the bigger photos it was USD 150 for the foreigners and Nu 9000 for local buyers.
The exhibition also included landscapes and sceneries as a tribute to Bhutan’s environment and diverse cultural heritage.
The pictures are all taken using mostly natural light and none of them were staged for exhibition.
All proceeds from the sale of the photographs will be donated to projects dedicated to the welfare of recovering addicts in Bhutan. The photographer’s prayers and wishes are that the youths of the nation develop into good human beings being physically healthy and mentally strong to be a productive citizens for the nation.
The exhibition is from 21st May till 5th June.
Jammes said, ‘Youth addiction in Bhutan is a growing problem and like elsewhere in the world, the root causes of such issues are deep, complex and require a long term and multifaceted approach to resolve them’.
He said that in the short term, drug-addicted youth requires rehabilitation treatment, guidance and job training for them to quit their addiction and rebuild their broken lives. He said a few very dedicated individuals have developed projects that offer this kind of support but they require funds.
“Drug addiction is a social issue and it requires a social response, it is important that we all commit ourselves to assisting our youth to develop into confident, caring and well-adjusted adults, moreover to give training or send them to rehabilitation center it cost about Nu 30,000 for every addicted individuals,” he said.
Oliver Jammes is a French photographer and economist who travels around the world with his family. In the last 25 years he has lived on four continents and visited many countries. He has been living in Bhutan for the last 3 years working as an international consultant and taking pictures.
The central and persistent focus in Oliver’s work is the relationship between photography and self-esteem. He takes pictures of people he meets and gives his prints back whenever possible.
Till date, he has distributed over 1,500 pictures for he believes that all the people deserve a good portrait for self-esteem.
The luxury of living for three years in Bhutan has provided him with opportunities to travel in almost all the places within Bhutan where as other photographers do not have that freedom to document a Bhutan which usually not shown in photography books. For instance he has photos of car workshops, cobblers, jewelry makers, scrap collectors, construction workers and pictures from the nook and cranny of Bhutan.
The photo exhibition will be open till 5th June and this is his second photo exhibition in Bhutan after the one that he had in Laya. His next exhibition will be at his home country, where he will be exhibiting the photos taken in Bhutan during the last three years. Using the photos he will show the world the diversity of Bhutan besides its rich cultural heritage.
