A photo exhibition organised in Yaounde as part of the maiden National Photography Days showcased Cameroon’s development drive over the past decade.
The adage that a “picture is worth a thousand words” could be seen on display at the Yaounde Conference Centre yesterday November 4, 2015 during a photo exhibition organised as part of activities to mark the first-ever National Photography Days placed under the esteemed aegis of the President of the Republic. The exhibition of dozens of photographs depicting the socio-economic development of the country over the last decade speaks volumes of the theme chosen for the four-day open door days, “Images and Development”.
The intention of the Cameroonian Photographers League that has organised the event is to valorise and promote photography in view of contributing to economic, social and cultural development of Cameroon. It is in this vein that the photos exhibited focus essentially on greater accomplishment projects which are either ongoing or completed. The Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary who chaired the opening ceremony alongside some cabinet ministers and other guests could not hide their excitement as they visited exhibition stands illustrating photographs of giant infrastructural projects notably in the areas of water and energy, mines, industries, roads, agriculture, health, education, urban development amongst others.
The main lobby of the Conference Centre and its first floor balcony is a major attraction for these four days of exhibition as pictures showing the Head of State, Paul Biya either laying the foundation stone or inaugurating some structural projects such as the Kribi Deep Sea Port, the Lom Pangar and the Memvele Dams, the second bridge over the Wouri river, Logbaba gas plant amongst others are conspicuous. With captions below each photograph, visitors are thoroughly informed on Cameroon’s emergency drive of the last 10 years. Little wonder why Minister Issa Tchiroma underscored the importance of photography by stating that “no nation can be built without photography”, reason why the Head of State patronised the event.
According to one of the organisers, Victor Yene, the pictures exhibited were selected based on their quality and the illustration of the theme of the event. He said the photos are works of photographers of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, SOPECAM and some other individual photographers.
