The World’s Reality in Photos

Photographing migrants crossing the Mediterranean sea, or the war along the Turkish borders with Syria, and other ongoing conflicts in Gaza, and the Ukraine, the World Press Photo 2015 exhibit is a perfect way to see the problems our world is facing today.

Founded in 1955, in Amsterdam, World Press Photo is an independent non-profit organization, which annually acknowledges the best of international photojournalism in different categories: General News, Daily Life, Contemporary Issues, Long-Term Projects, Nature, Portraits, Sports, and Spot News.

The Photo of the Year 2014, a portrait of gay lovers in St. Petersburg by Mads Nissen, from Denmark, is an aesthetically pleasing visual, but not a documentation of the social and legal discrimination of sexual minorities in Russia. For this reason, this decision has also been controversial. Together with other 2014 winners, this image was refused to be displayed at the photojournalism festival Visa Pour I’Image in France, to protest the contest organizers’ decisions.

Another prize winning photo, by Russian Sergei Ilnitsky tells a sad story. It shows how a family in Donetsk was about to have dinner, and as they were setting the table, a bomb exploded nearby. Everything is coated with dust and broken glass; the curtains and table are stained in blood.

Besides the world’s crises, photos in the Long-Term Project category focus on social issues and personal hardships. This year’s winner, American Darcy Padilla, followed the life of Julie Baird and her family for eleven years, in San Francisco, depicting a story of poverty, complicated by drugs, AIDS, births and deaths.

The 58th World Press Photo exhibition in Prague, which closes Oct 4th, documents everything from wars and crises to daily issues worldwide. It is an educational way to see what is going on, differently than dry news reporting; such impactful, touching images convey real emotions to personalize the issues showing how we can all relate to them.

Karolinum, Prague
Till 4.10.2015
Open Daily 10am -7pm

www.wpppraha.cz
www.worldpressphoto.org