Photography by Pakistan Photographers Group
Bernstein Gallery, Princeton University
Exhibition dates: December 5, 2009 - January 21, 2010

Contact: Kate Somers
Phone: 609.497.2441

“Pakistan: Dilemmas of a Troubled Democracy”
Panel Discussion:  Monday, December 14, 2009 at 4:30 p.m., Bowl 016, Robertson Hall
Reception to immediately follow at 6 p.m. in the Bernstein Gallery

Panelists: Ambassador Robert Finn, Senior Research Associate at the Woodrow Wilson School's Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) and former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan; Zia Mian, a Research Scientist and director of the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson School's Program on Science and Global Security; and Paula Newberg, Director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. Stanley Katz, a Lecturer with rank of Professor of Public and International Affairs and Director of the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at the School, will moderate the panel.

This exhibition of 34 photographs by 19 members of the Pakistan Photographers Group (PPG) showcases images that reflect the rich texture, beauty and dignity of everyday life in Pakistan. The theme of The Other Pakistan appears timely since the international media have recently focused almost exclusively on a politically turbulent Pakistan, promoting stereotypical images of a violent country infected by fanaticism. At a closer look, however, the photographs exhibited here tell a different, multi-layered story of a complex country. Some images pay tribute to the past and dignify centuries-old traditions. Others depict contemporary scenes and in their unadorned ordinariness offer their own glimmers of dignity. Whatever the individual circumstance, the seesaw of daily life in modern Pakistan often seems buffered by the high spirits that Pakistan’s diverse communities exhibit during traditional festivals and by the astonishing beauty of much of Pakistan’s landscape.