It is the 11th time that Drik has brought the prestigious display of photographs from all over the world that portray the world events of immense importance every year. Former Chief Justice and Chief Advisor of the Caretaker Government Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman inaugurated the exhibition on January 7. Marc Prust, Project Manager of WPP, JL Ijzermans, Ambassador of Royal Netherlands Embassy, and Shahidul Alam were present at the opening ceremony.

Founded in 1955, WPP is an independent platform for international press photography, which manifests itself in an annual contest and corresponding yearbook and exhibition. Each year, an independent jury of 13 members judges the entries, in 9 categories, submitted by journalists, agencies, newspapers and magazines from all corners of the world. The categories are Spot news, general news, people in the news, sports, portraits, the arts, science and technology, nature and the environment, and daily life. Besides, two photos are given WPP of the Year and Children's Jury awards. This year's competition attracted 3913 photographs from 118 countries taken in 2002.

The annual exhibition is held each year at about 80 venues in 40 countries. Importantly noticeable is that these shows are held on one very uncompromising condition: not a single photo would be brought under any form of censorship. And implementation of this is so rigid that the slightest censor results in the cancellation of the whole exhibition. One such incident marks this year's journey of the show across the world: the event did not take place in China as the government there declined to accept a photograph containing elements pointing to its sour relationship with North Korea.

The photo that won the WPP of the Year 2003 was taken by an unknown photographer from Armenia named Eric Grigorian. The photo shows a boy mourning at his father's graveside, holding the father's trousers in his lap, after the earthquake in Qazin Province of Iran in June 2002. The photo surely reminds spectators of the recent Iran tragedy in the city of Bunm, which could not attract much attention in the western countries.

A photograph, taken by a girl named Carolyn Cole of the USA, shows the anxious faces of the Palestinian hostages at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. Another picture captured by Justin Sutcliffe of the United Kingdom depicts a female hostage of the Moscow theatre siege on October 26, '02. The photographs by Brenda Ann Kenneally show a New York family addicted to drugs. Georges Gobet of France captures images of the political unrest in Ivory Coast, while US photographer Ami Vitale catches the moments of the Gujarat riot in India.

Not just the darker aspects, there are also images of the lighter side of life including a portrait of famous actor Leonardo de Caprio and actress Sharone Stone arriving at the Cannes Film Festival.

It is a great relief for the audience of Bangladesh that since its introduction to the country, the WPP exhibition has never had to face any kind of pressures from any sector.

The show remains open for all till January 29 from 3pm to 8pm everyday.