From 8 April to 16 June, in London’s Kings Cross, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is presenting a free open-air photography exhibition about the world’s oldest trade route. The Silk Road: A Living History, created by travel photographer Christopher Wilton-Steer, is comprised of over 160 photographs that invite the viewer to take a journey from London to Beijing, encountering many of the people, places and cultures along the ancient trade route.
The exhibition aims to celebrate the diversity of cultural expressions found along the Silk Road, highlight examples of how historical practices, rituals and customs live on today, and also reveal some of the connections between what appear at first glance to be very different cultures. It also seeks to engender interest and understanding between distant cultures and challenge perceptions of less well known and understood parts of the world. Photographs from Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, India, China and elsewhere are featured in the show.
Amongst other things The Silk Road: A Living History features images and stories of people, places and cultures where AKF and its sister agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network have been actively working to improve the quality of life – for nearly 30 years in Central Asia, and for almost a century in India and Pakistan.
