LAHORE - The Rida Shah Photography exhibition was held yesterday at Alhamra art council with an idea to highlight the social issues of Pakistani society.
Shah, a concept based photo-manipulation artist, has shown the darker truths of the society through her photography skills. Her image focuses on the numerous social issues affecting people and societies all over the world.
Rida Shah has shed light on one of the most important issues of our society - child sexual abuse - that is still considered a taboo to discuss and is often ignored by the people and government.
The exhibition, in which a total of 35 photographs were showcased, has well earned the reputation for attracting excited and young exhibitors, besides the much admired, more established member artists.
One picture that stood out in the exhibition was of child abuse. Sexual abuse is a topic that is being discussed and worked upon in the parliament now days. It shows how children are forced into physical and sexual torture and then pressurised to keep mum. It leaves a terrible impact on their personality.
Arhum Farid, a student, was seen taking keen interest in different photographs at the exhibition. According to her, the photographer has portrayed the message to the audience in a very decent way, which the new generation rarely saw before. “We are happy to see such tremendous photography skills.” she added.
“Nowadays photographers mostly focus on nature photography, wedding shoots, fashion shoots but I wanted to do something different outside of mainstream photography,” Rida Shah told The Nation.
“It was a 3 year long struggle for me to achieve the greatness that I have finally achieved today. My mother supported me all the way and motivated me to continue photography as a profession.
“The idea was to bring together the talent and power of the camera to achieve social goals and spur people into action. My motto is to raise awareness among people and stop violence in the society,” she added.