Last summer, the North Fork Arts Center in Greenport embarked on a collaboration with the BarTur Awards, an international photography prize, for a stunning exhibition of great photojournalism from around the world.
This year the collaboration is growing in innovative new ways, thanks to a collaboration with a talented group of young composers and musicians from Yale University.
Pictured Above: Supratim Bhattacharjee’s ‘Sinking Sundarban,’ Mousuni Island, West Bengal, India.
This Saturday, June 13 at 5 p.m., the Vista Quartet from the Yale School of Music will perform two original compositions by student composers at Yale in the main theater at the NFAC, on stage with a cinematographic visual journey through BarTur Award photographs from 86 countries, exploring the world’s response to climate change.
The performance, called “When the Earth Speaks,” will be followed by a reception for this year’s BarTur Award exhibition in the theater’s art gallery.
The award was created by Amnon BarTur, a veteran photojournalist who has a house in Orient and a longstanding relationship with the London College of Communication, where he studied photography and now serves on the college’s advisory board.
He had initially started the award in 2011 to encourage photography students there, but it has evolved over the years into an international prize, Mr. BarTur told The Beacon in an interview this week.
“The idea of climate change is to me the key issue in the world today,” he said. “We bring photographers from all over the world to cover social issues that really matter. It’s not a business. We do it for love.”
The 2025 BarTur photo award winner, Daniel Ochoa de Olza, is a Spanish photographer who documented the construction of the wall between the United States and Mexico. The international panel of judges gave him a $30,000 grant to complete this body of work, which is expected to be exhibited in Texas border cities.
Mr. BarTur said this weekend’s performance came out of his friendship with a board member at Yale, who “came up with the idea of funding a group of graduate students to create an anthem for climate change.”
“When he told me about it, I thought ‘we have the most amazing collection of images about climate change.’ Music is abstract, but bringing the photography brings in reality — the combination of both is a very powerful message,” he said. “People get tired of hearing about climate change, but this is another fresh way of seeing it.”
Evia on Fire
Evia Island, Greece
Mr. BarTur said the photos have been artfully synchronized to complement the pre-written musical pieces.
“It will be projected behind the quartet and synchronized with music,” he said. “I think the combination will be stunning.”
The exhibition, curated by Kate Bubacz, is very much in a similar style to the images in the performance, though it incorporates more smaller photos than last year, said Mr. BarTur.
“These are a selection of so many different photographers who see things differently from each other, from different part of world,” said Mr. BarTur. “A few images are more art prints, but most of them tend to capture actual events. Each photographer has a different way of looking at a subject.”
The performance will be followed by a panel discussion, which Mr. BarTur expects to be a deep dive into the intersection of classical composition, visual documentation and environmental reality.
“In the past, this theater has really surprised me — I didn’t know what to expect, but people really interact and ask questions,” he said. “Last year, we had to stop because another movie was showing. It was really wonderful. I think the community is really looking for something interesting and intellectual to be involved in.”
As for what makes a great photographer?
“Everyone has the same camera, but everyone’s eye is different,” said Mr. Bar-Tur. “Very few have the eye to capture things in the most dramatic way. This is real talent. It is art.”
General admission tickets are $40, and are available online here.
NFAC is offering free admission to 50 local students “to make this educational and cultural milestone accessible to the next generation,” according to the theater. Student tickets can be obtained by using the promo code STUDENT at check-out.
Foggy Morning
India
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