In fall 2013 the Dr. David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies announced the second annual Imaging the Asia-Pacific Photo Contest. Open to all students at the University of Toronto, the contest invited entrants to imagine and represent the Asia-Pacific from unique perspectives.

At a reception in early February to celebrate the new year, Dr. David Chu Professor and Director in Asia-Pacific Studies, Takashi Fujitani, announced the winning photos. The Grand Prize was awarded to Glen Chua, a PhD student in Anthropology, for his photograph “School, Pyongyang.” Chua took the photo while in North Korea.

The runner-up photos belong to fourth-year Asia-Pacific Studies student Betty Xie and Collaborative Master’s Program in Asia-Pacific Studies student Hao Wang. Xie’s photo, “Asia is ‘Flat’: The Voyage,” was taken in Hong Kong. Wang’s photo, “The Celebration of My Sorrow,” was taken in Thailand.

The winning photos will be displayed at the Asian Institute and all submissions will be displayed on the Dr. David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies website. The Chu program plans to continue the photo contest every year and encourages all students at the University of Toronto to consider entering the next contest. Details will be announced in fall 2014.

School, Pyongyang, by Glen Chua. “A schoolboy runs across Kim Il-Sung Square in front of the Grand People’s Study House, Pyongyang, North Korea.”

Asia is ‘Flat’: The Voyage, by Betty Xie. “Where is Asia heading today? We all ask. In this photograph, taken alongside Victoria Harbour at the heart of Hong Kong, a ferry is surely breaking waves of the sea and silence of the night. Yet it does not transcend beyond the fragmented passage of time, readily reflected by the overlapping city light in the background. The ferry is in motion, but time has been suspended. We might ask, by whom?”

The Celebration of My Sorrow, by Hao Wang. “Statues of the God-like King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) and fellow Buddhist saints in Wat Berng Phra Archan, central Thailand.”