UNESCO and the China Folklore Photographic Association (CFPA) are presenting under the title Memories of Humanity an exhibition of 1000 pictures by 100 photographers who have taken part in the four international Humanity Photo Awards (HPA) that have been organized to date.

The exhibition sheds light on our planet’s cultural diversity, in particular via ancestral rites and folk traditions, and will be displayed by theme : festivities, daily life, architecture, sport and spare time, traditional rites, portraits and costumes.

Created in 1998 by CFPA, a Beijing-based NGO, the HPA Awards-which are open to amateurs and professionals alike-are intended to help preserve the different peoples intangible cultural heritage, dying out in many instances, and to promote dialogue between civilizations. With the backing of UNESCO, the biennial awards are presented to photographers whose pictures succeed in illuminating the planet’s cultural wealth.

Founded in 1963 by photographer-explorer Shen Che, the CFPA now constitutes a network of 30 000 Chinese photographers covering the country. It carries out research on photography, and in particular the intangible cultural heritage of the Chinese minorities. As a result it now has the biggest archive in the world in this field with more than 16,000 photographs covering the 56 nationalities of China. Bearing in mind the fact that every nation enriches the world with its individual creativity, the Association decided to create the HPAs in order to encourage, with UNESCO support, exchanges and dialogue between civilizations.

HPA 2006, the 5^th in the series, is being launched on 1 September 2005 (form available) as part of the celebrations surrounding the 60^th anniversary of the founding of UNESCO (1945-2005).

Officer-in-Charge : Mr H. d’Horville, BSP - UNESCO. Tel :01 45 68 05 16/18. Fax : 01 45 68 56 40