The World Press Photo exhibition will present 129 photos of each of the 31 regional winners. Among them are the project ‘War is Personal’ by Julia Kochetova and the work of German photographer Johanna-Maria Fritz about the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.
The works of World Press Photo (WPP) 2024 finalists document war, protests, migration and climate crises and other important events in 2023. The submitted photos won in such categories as Long-Term Project and Open Format, and they also received two special awards.
‘It’s a kind of tapestry of our world today, centered on images we believe were made with respect and integrity, that can speak universally and resonate far beyond their origins’, WPP 2024 jury chair and head of photography at The Guardian, Fiona Shields, describes the winners’ works.
He calls the award an opportunity to applaud the work of press and documentary photographers everywhere — ‘made with courage, intelligence and ingenuity’ — and to amplify the importance of the stories they are telling.
The main award, Photo of the Year, went to photographer Mohammed Salem for his photo ‘A Palestinian Woman Embraces the Body of Her Niece’, taken in the Gaza Strip.
Works about Ukraine at the exhibition
Julia Kochetova’s ‘War is Personal’ won the Open Format category of this year’s competition. It is a multidisciplinary format project about the war, which combined the journalist’s photos with illustrations by Oleksandr Komiakhov and music by Daria Kolomiec.
We told you more about ‘War is Personal’ in our article.
Johanna-Maria Fritz’s photo report about the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, which will also be shown at the exhibition, won the WPP 2024 European competition in the Stories category.
The World Press Photo exhibition will be shown in Ukraine for the second time. According to Kateryna Radchenko, the founder of Odesa Photo Days festival and WPP 2023 European jury chair, it was important for the organizers to show the exhibition again, because the prize-winning photos ‘remind us of current problems in different parts of the planet’.
‘The war in Ukraine emphasizes the relationship between all countries. It is especially valuable to see works from Ukraine among the winners — it is another significant manifestation of support from the international community’, Radchenko adds.
The World Press Photo exhibition will open at the Dovzhenko Centre Cinema Museum on October 24 at 6:00 p.m. and will run until November 17. Entrance on the first day is free, and during the entire period of the exhibition it will cost 100 UAH.
