Living Heritage along the Silk Roads
The shared legacy of the Silk Roads lies not only in monuments, cities, and historical sites, but also in the intangible cultural expressions and everyday practices that communities have preserved and adapted over generations by ensuring the continuity of cultural life along these historic routes. These practices that would be called the Living Heritage has played a central role in preserving and transmitting the shared cultural legacies of the Silk Roads. Despite its many expressions across diverse communities, this legacy needs to be better recognized and documented.
For the 8th edition of the "Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads" photo contest, young participants aged 14 to 25 are invited to submit photographs illustrating "Living Heritage along the Silk Roads". Through this theme, the photo contest aims to highlight how traditions and cultural and ritual practices together reflect the interconnected histories of the people of different regions linked by these routes. Across centuries, this shared living heritage has safeguarded collective memory and enabled the transmission of knowledge, skills, and cultural expressions from East Asia to the Mediterranean, across Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and the Middle East.
From the cultural landmarks to everyday practices and forms of knowledge transmission, participants are invited to document the visible and less visible elements that sustain communities and keep the shared legacy of the Silk Roads alive.
By highlighting both historical and contemporary expressions of tangible and intangible living heritage, the contest emphasizes their role in fostering intercultural dialogue, the transmission of knowledge, mutual respect and ultimately more peaceful societies.
Some examples from which photographers may draw inspiration include, but are not limited to:
- Shared traditional knowhow, artisans practicing crafts such as weaving, embroidery, ceramics, or pottery or other expressions of living cultural heritage.
- Traditional sports and games practiced or transmitted across generations.
- Music, musical instruments, dance, or oral storytelling performed within communities.
- Culinary traditions, gastronomy, and food production passed down through generations.
- The living transmission of knowledge, skills and ideas that have fuelled the dynamic cultural and intellectual exchanges of the Silk Roads.
- Intercommunity and multicultural gatherings during celebrations, life milestones, or everyday moments in diverse societies.
- Portraits of individuals and communities from Silk Roads regions capturing their cultural identity, resilience, and knowledge, as well as moments of joy, celebration, learning, and everyday life.