JEDDAH — “Scotoma,” the fifth edition of Art Jameel Photography Award for 2014 took place yesterday at the Dar Hussain Hall at Abdulatif Jameel's headquarter. The competition is part of Art Jameel Programs by the Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI), which organized this prestigious award in partnership with Lexus KSA alongside Leap Studio, and in collaboration with Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts. Scotoma is a blind spot in the visual field of the eye which does not allow the full image to be seen by the eye nor understood by the mind. More than 400 participants took part in the competition that was open to Saudis and residents. Twenty-five photos were shortlisted of which five bagged the coveted prize. The five winners received a total of SR100,000 Riyals. Filipino national Akram AlAmoudi, the winner of the competition, has also qualified for an internship opportunity in Leap Studio. AlAmoudi's photo featured the concept of culture isolating women. His picture showed a woman praying alone, captioning it “Visually divided and isolated as she prays for her loved ones, her presence goes unseen and unnoticed.” “While picking the picture, I was raising this kind of question did we pick the picture because it's a woman? What if it was a man? and there were a lot of debates between yes and no and then we finally decide it should be the one,” said Abu Bakir Balfagih, a member of the jury panel. Balfagih further said: “The idea of Scotoma was not easy. At the beginning we had different opinion about the definition of Scotoma until we reached a point. We chose those five after nominating eight percent of the photos. We picked those between 400 or 500 pictures. The five winners that we picked were the nearest people to the idea of Scotoma and they present simple pictures.” Akram, who felt mixed emotions after being announced as the winner, said: “I submitted a photo that is related to women because as I grew older I realized that my mother and sister had helped me too much through my life so now it's my turn to help them in their dreams so I got the idea.I am shocked and a little shaken...I didn't expect that I would win.” Shahad Abdu Alainain, the curator of Scotoma, said: “It's a philosophical concept. Scotoma is a Latin word that means the blind spot. The blind spot is something you don't see, so basically we want people to see the things that they are not seeing. So we wanted the photographer to shoot the picture that people do not see. It could be really in front of you but you don't see it and the other person mentions it in an artistic way.” Scotoma will affect the society and change their perception about life. “Through focusing on the blind spot, we want people to look at things with a new angle and a way of thinking. It's nice to perceive things with new view point because our society sticks to norms and traditions,” said Abdu Alainain. Abeer Khalid, one of the visitors, said: “I liked the competition because the idea is new and weird. The idea gave us the chance to focus on things that we ignore in our daily lives. It helps us to think out of the box.” Some of the participants who did not make it to the final five, but were part of the final 20, were participating in an Art Jameel Photography for the second time because they were of the opinion that such competitions affect the society. Majed Angawi, one of the shortlisted participants, participated for the second time. He said: “ It will affect our culture because its presenting art, and art in our society is not getting it right, but now its developing and several exhibition are being held. Art discusses humanity and society, educating people about things that he didn't concentrate in.”
