The British Council in collaboration with the Municipality of Jeddah organized a “Look and find” architectural heritage photographic competition in the historic Balad district Wednesday. The competition is part of the ongoing photography exhibition “My Father's House” which features the architecture of cultural heritage with the aim of opening the window of the past to the younger generation. “Look and find” is a photography competition that encourages people to discover their everyday environment and learn about their own architectural heritage which has been transferred from generation to generation and help them identify their cultural values,” said Manar El-Husseini the project coordinator. “Through this photography competition, participants are exposed to art, culture, and knowledge and they also have a lot of fun,” he added. Sixty men and women were divided into groups and given clues about seven buildings and monuments important to the cultural heritage of Old Jeddah. They were sent out with maps and given a certain period of time in which to find selected historic buildings and use their creativity to take photographs of them. “I have really enjoyed the competition. Balad was a good choice as many of us do not know about our own cultural heritage even though we are Saudis. We know little about the historic buildings and monuments and where they are located. So we have learned a lot today and at the same time have enjoyed ourselves,” said Tagreead Halwan, one of the participants in the competition who works in the TNT sales department. Another competitor Omar Ghazal, an experienced photographer, said that he thoroughly enjoyed the competition and thought that the organizers did a great job in letting the public, especially Saudi youth, know about the importance of these historic places in Jeddah. However, he said that he found the map hard to read as most of the places were difficult to find. “It is important for us to know about our own history, especially historic Old Jeddah which was highlighted in this competition,” Rafit Othman Waqid, a graduate student said. “I am familiar with the Balad District and have come across these historic old buildings before, but for me they were just buildings. I didn't know that these buildings were owned by some of the well-known families of Jeddah,” he said. “In our history books we never studied in detail about our cultural heritage, so today has been a nice way to learn about it,” he added. The groups of competitors moved around the small lanes of Old Jeddah to locate their photographic targets which were not that easy to find because there are so many old buildings in the area. The competitors were given two hours to follow the clues and bring back their pictures to the Bait Al-Bont heritage museum, where all the photos were collected and compiled to create a unique photographic storyboard projected on a large screen. Prizes were then awarded for the best photos. “The photography exhibition and this competitison are about examining the influence of architecture on cultural heritage with an aim to simulating debate about the role of buildings in shaping and making culture,” said Marcus Gilbert, British Council director in the western region.
