honorable mention
AJ Heath united kingdom
title
Way of Harmony - Portarits from Bhutan
In 2015, documentary photographer AJ Heath travelled to Bhutan. Making it his home for a year, he gain unrivaled access to an enchanting country juggling the weight of tradition with the onslaught of modern life. In order to understand better a nation where happiness is famously prioritised and prescribed by the government as part of the Gross National Happiness initiative, he set up an outside studio in the capital city and invited the general public to be photographed. Over the course of three weekend, Heath photographed over 150 subjects, who were as varied as a 13 -year old Buddhist monk, a royal bodyguard and members of a Bhutanese street dance crews. In the follow-up conversations he had with his subjects on Facebook, he asked each person two simple questions: what makes them happy, and what makes them feel Bhutanese. Their answers reveal much about the real social landscape of modern Bhutan. While many give the uniformed answer of national dress and cultural traditions, a parallel picture emerges of a country at odds with an influx of consumerism, unemployment and uncertain futures for the young
Way of Harmony is a collection of portraits which capture a precise moment of transition in this most beguiling country.
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entry description
In the last decade the Kingdom of Bhutan has undergone a rapid transition, from a closed Buddhist Kingdom to a constitutional democracy and is now admired worldwide for its uncompromising pursuit of Gross National Happiness. But as Bhutan development accelerates, its government and people are engaged in a battle to preserve its culture and keep its unique identity alive.In 2015, documentary photographer AJ Heath travelled to Bhutan. Making it his home for a year, he gain unrivaled access to an enchanting country juggling the weight of tradition with the onslaught of modern life. In order to understand better a nation where happiness is famously prioritised and prescribed by the government as part of the Gross National Happiness initiative, he set up an outside studio in the capital city and invited the general public to be photographed. Over the course of three weekend, Heath photographed over 150 subjects, who were as varied as a 13 -year old Buddhist monk, a royal bodyguard and members of a Bhutanese street dance crews. In the follow-up conversations he had with his subjects on Facebook, he asked each person two simple questions: what makes them happy, and what makes them feel Bhutanese. Their answers reveal much about the real social landscape of modern Bhutan. While many give the uniformed answer of national dress and cultural traditions, a parallel picture emerges of a country at odds with an influx of consumerism, unemployment and uncertain futures for the young
Way of Harmony is a collection of portraits which capture a precise moment of transition in this most beguiling country.
about the photographer
AJ Heath is a British documentary photographer based in London. He has worked as a freelance photographer for the past eight years and has had work published by the Times, The Guardian and Al Jazeera, among others. In 2014, he gained a Master’s degree in Photojournalism & Documentary photography from the University of Arts London. His first solo photography book entitled 'Way of Harmony - Portraits from Bhutan will be available in November 2017. A second book of photography documenting the effects globalisation on the Kingdom of Bhutan, entitled In Pursuit of Happiness, will be available in 2018.back to gallery