Local and Universal Symbols will constitute the main theme of this year’s IPF Premier Photographic Exhibition and will include portfolio reviews with esteemed Reviewers, Photographer Presentations, Panel Discussions, and more. All different types of lens-based projects will be represented in the exhibition, including documentary, fine art, black and white, reportage, and interdisciplinary projects. This exhibition permits photo-based storytellers to bring their work to an international audience through the portal of industry leaders, editors, curators, and publishers.
 

Each Picturing Peace photograph begins with a word concept. The photographer expands on this concept so that a single image could represent a number of word concepts from one or all of the four categories: Space and Form, Qualities, Emotions/States, and People/Social.
 

• Peaceful Places: Images that embody “peace” or “peaceful” could be classified as the categories for Emotions/States or People/Social. Photographs may use the word “peace” to describe peaceful places.
   

• Harmony and Balance in Nature: These photographs reveal the natural sculptures, layered formations, and vibrant colours of nature and, therefore, demonstrate how the photographer looks to nature for inspiration to create interesting images of peace.
   

• Diversity, Community, and Cooperation: The category of People/Social includes word concepts for peace, community, diversity, and cooperation. The images reveal the photographer's understanding of diversity beyond ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
   

• Conflict in the Built Environment and Nature: The photographs in this group have a strong social documentary dimension. The images respond to the inevitable social conflicts in the world around us, forcing the viewer to consider the surrounding realities of life.
   

The IPF Picturing Peace initiative, therefore, pays attention to the image-language interplay and different forms of knowledge produced by different kinds of image makers – professional and non-professional photographers – and to the democratization of image making, frequently alleged to be a part of digitization. As an epistemological medium, photography is especially suitable for the depiction of everyday peace. This exhibition emphasizes that peace photography is derivative, illustrative, and constitutive of peace.