World Press Photo of the Year 2009Pietro Masturzo, ItalyWomen shout their dissent from a Tehran rooftop on 24 June, following Iran’s disputed presidential election. The result had been victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, but there were allegations of vote-rigging. In the ensuing weeks, violent demonstrations took place in the streets. At night, people shouted from the roofs, an echo of protests that took place during the 1979 Islamic Revolution
This year’s World Press Photo Exhibition brings more of the same startlingly horrifying imagery to Sydney’s State Library. The News section features photographs from the appalling events from around the world. The Arab/Israeli conflict is given particular emphasis, with beautifully framed images of red, flower-like explosions ripping through Gaza and dead children buried up to their necks in rubble.
There are other sections documenting sports and nature but it is the News section that stands out. How could it not, with its brilliant, gorgeously composed grotesqueness? As historical records, these photos are undeniably important. They show worlds unfamiliar to us and highlight issues many would prefer not to consider. What is most shocking is how desensitized we are to such imagery.
This exhibition is always a popular one (note: early mornings or afternoons are probably best) and looking at the throngs swelling around the exhibition you get the impression of a crowd drawn to the scene of a car crash. Which isn’t to say what is on display isn’t worthwhile seeing-it is just really brutal.
One of the most successful within the News section, also possibly the least visually graphic, is Rina Castelnuovo’s image (click here to view photo) showing a male orthodox Jew approaching a Palestinian woman on a street in the West Bank during Purim. The man has his plastic cup outstretched, an arc of wine hurtling towards the woman, captured in mid air. His face is contemptuous. It is disquieting in the hatred it illustrates in such a comparatively benign moment (relative to the other photos). But in its restraint it also exemplifies the religious extremism that has propelled a conflict for decades.
1st prize in the Contemporary Issues StoriesEugene Richards, USA, Reportage by Getty Images/The Sunday Times Magazine/Paris MatchNelida Bagley helps her son Jose Pequeño from his bed at the West Roxbury Veterans Medical Center in Massachusetts. He lost 40 percent of his brain when a grenade exploded in his vehicle while on patrol in Ramadi, in central Iraq.
By the end of 2009, over 4,300 men and women from US military forces had been killed, and some 30,000 maimed or wounded since the beginning of the conflict in Iraq.
Another powerful shot is from Eugene Richards, which shows an American soldier hugging his mother. Half of his head is no longer there, having lost 40 percent of his brain in a grenade explosion. His mother’s strained expression as she embraces her damaged child is a sobering reminder of the cost of modern warfare. These images contain stories that are impossible to forget, even on a fair Saturday afternoon.
World Press Photo 10 Exhibition is at Sydney’s State Library until 25th July, admission is free- for more information click here
Also currently displayed at the State Library is Sydney Morning Herald’s Photos 1440 – A Day, A Minute, A Moment – for more information click here
For Worldwide venues and dates for the World Press Photo 10 Exhibition click here
Images provided courtesy of World Press Photo
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