An image shot in Indonesia, on display at the ongoing sixth edition of Xposure International Photography Festival, depicts a group of children crouching in flimsy boats surrounding a pier, but listening intently as their teacher conducts a lesson.

For these children from destitute families who row boats to school and back home, these boats also double up as classrooms. The tender hands that row across the water twice each day – a feat requiring immense physical strength, are also the same hands that write in notebooks during classes.

Captured by photographer TjandraHutama Kurniawan, the image is displayed at the Photographic Society of America exhibition at Xposure 2022, which runs at Expo Centre Sharjah until Tuesday, February 15.

Kurniawan’s subject resonates with Xposure’s key messages underlining the impactful role of photographs in documenting urgent humanitarian issues.