Aspiring photographers in GCC countries have the opportunity to win cash prizes and exposure in the 2016 Art Jameel Photography Award. The award is organized by Art Jameel, the arts and culture initiative of Community Jameel, the social enterprise arm of Abdul Latif Jameel, and offers cash prizes worth a total of close to $30,000. After judging, an exhibition will feature the best 30 entries. Art Jameel is calling all photographers above the age of 18 – professional and amateur, male and female – to submit their work for the competition which opens on August 1 and closes on October 15. Winners will be announced in November, coinciding with the opening of the exhibition. The theme for 2016 is ‘Re-inventing Imagery', seeking to uncover modes of production and participation in overlapping fields of culture, urbanism, and social experimental photography or the use of alternative process techniques of image making. Ms Dalya Mousa, Art Jameel Manager, said: "The goal is to encourage artists to break away from the familiar and commercial ways of looking at and using images through art. "No preference is given to any particular kind of photographic material, technique or creative route, nor are any of these excluded from consideration. Artists are encouraged to break boundaries and experiment in all mediums ranging from photography, video, drawing, installation and sculpture etc." Competition entries must be submitted to the award's website http://ajpa.artjameel.org. Judges have yet to be announced but Zelda Cheatle, the UK-based expert who heads the World Photography Organisation, has been appointed as curator. The British Council is the educational partner and will manage GCC workshops and other training for photographers who enter the award. Pharan Studio, the photography partner, will manage all workshops in Saudi Arabia. Community Jameel launched the initiative in 2010 as the Bab Rizq Jameel Photography Award. The results were so impressive that it was developed into the Art Jameel Photography Award in 2013, aiming not only to attract the best photographers but also to provide opportunities for employment, in keeping with Community Jameel objectives. More than 2,000 people have participated in the award's six stagings so far, of whom 180 reached finalist level. Most of the entries came from Saudi citizens, with the remainder from GCC residents or other nationalities, including Yemen, Philippines, Egypt, Indonesia, Sudan, USA, UK, India, Malaysia, Greece, Pakistan, and Argentina. About 500 entries are expected for 2016's seventh event. The most recent winner was Saudi resident and Portugal national Adreano Pimenta in 2015 for his photo ‘Deconstruction of Inhabited Spaces
