SWPA 2023 - Professional Competition Finalists and Shortlist Announcement - GADGET-INNOVATIONS

SWPA 2023 - Professional Competition Finalists and Shortlist Announcement

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PROFESSIONAL COMPETITION 2023 : FINALISTS & SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

EXHIBITION: 14 APRIL – 1 MAY 2023 | SOMERSET HOUSE, LONDON

 

 

 

 

 

The World Photography Organisation is delighted to reveal the finalists and shortlisted photographers in the Professional competition for the Sony World Photography Awards 2023. Now in its 16th year, the Awards’ Professional competition rewards exceptional series of work both for technical skill and an original approach to storytelling.

 

The winner of Photographer of the Year 2023 is chosen from the Professional finalists and announced on 13 April. A selection of images by finalists and shortlisted photographers will be exhibited as part of the Sony World Photography Awards at Somerset House from 14 April – 1 May 2023.

 

Over 415,000 images from over 200 countries and territories were submitted to the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 and over 180,000 were entered into the Professional competition – the highest number of entries on record.







The three finalists and projects per category of the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 are:


ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

In In Memoriam: Muralla Roja by Ricardo Bofill, Andres Gallardo Albajar (Spain) pays tribute to the celebrated Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill (d. 2022), through a series of images of the maze-like interiors and exteriors of one of his most iconic buildings. In Stal-Vernacular Animal Sheds, Servaas Van Belle (Belgium) chronicles the architecture of animal shelters. Shot centre-frame in dense fog, the photographer considers the humility and humanity of these scarred and weather-beaten structures. Meanwhile in Cement Factory, Fan Li (China Mainland) captures the imposing remains of an abandoned cement factory in Southern China, shot in stark black and white.

 

CREATIVE

In The Right to Play, Lee-Ann Olwage (South Africa) explores female empowerment through education, using flower collage techniques to add a sense of joy, playfulness and hope to her portraits. In Africa Blues, Edoardo Delille and Giulia Piermartiri (Italy), use a projector to overlay images of environmental devastation onto scenes of everyday life as a way of highlighting the impact of climate change in Mozambique. Meanwhile, in Noemi Comi’s (Italy) Lupus Hominarius archive imagery is juxtaposed with bright tones to explore historic folk tales of Werewolves in Calabria, Italy, where the legend was sometimes used to keep women close to home.

 

DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS 

In Gaza struggles to accommodate the living and the dead as population grows, Mohammed Salem (Palestinian Territory) follows a family compelled by overcrowding in the Gaza area to set up shelter and live in a cemetery. In The Women’s Peace Movement in Congo Hugh Kinsella Cunningham (United Kingdom) seeks to shed light on the frequently overlooked contributions of local women to the ongoing peace efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tariq Zaidi’s (United Kingdom) Inside the Hamar Weyne Fish Market: the Heart of Mogadishu, Somalia, vividly captures the energy and atmosphere of the city's busiest fish market, where it remains a key source of economic activity despite the ongoing civil war.

 

ENVIRONMENT

Charting the gradual demise of the Colorado River, Jonas Kakó’s (Germany) The Dying River explores the ways in which extensive human interference has impacted surrounding communities and their way of life. Miruku by Marisol Mendez (Bolivia) and Federico Kaplan (Argentina), focuses on the intersection of climate vulnerability and gender inequality through a series of images of an indigenous community from La Guajira in Colombia, experiencing a devastating water shortage. Elsewhere, in Green Dystopia Axel Javier Sulzbacher (Germany) investigates the burden and violent toll of the rising demand for avocadoes in Michoacan, Mexico.

 

LANDSCAPE

Taken over a course of 76 solo flights and 200 hours in the air, Event Horizon by Kacper Kowalski (Poland) is a series of strikingly abstract ice patterns over bodies of water in Poland in winter. In Postcards from Afghanistan after forty years of war Bruno Zanzottera (Italy) captures the scars borne by the landscape of Afghanistan. Fabio Bucciarelli’s (Italy) Loss and Damage is a study of the destruction caused by four years of consecutive flooding in South Sudan, depicted in images of buildings and vehicles half-submerged by the floodwaters.

 

PORTFOLIO

Riverland and other projects by Marjolein Martinot (Netherlands) captures the feeling of a long and languid summer in photographs of bathers in Southern France. In Marylise Vigneau’s (France) Portfolio, the photographer presents a collection of contrasting moments: from an old veteran recovering from Covid, to a portrait of a little girl in Lahore. Meanwhile James Deavin’s (United Kingdom) Portfolio was taken while the photographer was living in Saudi Arabia, and juxtaposes images of migrant workers with images of leisure.

 

PORTRAITURE
Afghanistan's Girls Athletes by Ebrahim Noroozi (Iran) portrays women with the equipment of the sports they are now forbidden from playing by the Taliban, their identities concealed by burqas. Our War by Edgar Martins (Portugal) is a homage to Martins’ friend, photojournalist Anton Hammerl who was killed during the Libyan civil war in 2011 and whose remains have not yet been found. The series is structured as a self-portrait of Hammerl through posed images of the people he had photographed and met. Jean-Claude Moschetti’s (France) Egungun looks at traditional costumes worn in Benin as part of voodoo rituals which honour spirits of the ancestors and perpetuate their memories.

 

SPORT

In Female Pro Baseball Player Succeeds in All Male Pro League, Al Bello (United States) documents the achievements of Kelsie Whitmore, the first female professional baseball player to play in an all-male professional league. In Mundialito, Andrea Fantini (Italy) captures the drama and excitement of one of the most important Indigenous Football Cups in South America. Meanwhile in Fallou Diop, the Unpredicted Hope of the Racetrack, Thomas Morel-Fort (France) follows a young jockey making a name for himself on the track in Senegal.

 

STILL LIFE

Cryogenia by Jagoda Malanin (Poland) considers the geological period of Cryogenian through photographs of small treasures chosen by her daughter and frozen into ice shapes, posing the question of what we will leave behind us. Inspired by the comings and goings of a nearby garden shop, Kechun Zhang (China Mainland) created The Sky Garden, a series of surreal images depicting plants and rocks hoisted through the air by cranes. In La Visita, Carloman Macidiano Céspedes Riojas (Argentina) documents the different meals requested by inmates in a prison in northern Peru, the images representing the tenderness, and affection of visiting families.

 

WILDLIFE & NATURE

Following a journey deep into the forest, Sriram Murali (India)’s series Billions of Synchronous Fireflies Light up a Tiger Reserve captures the dazzling sight of thousands of fireflies synchronising their flashes. Meanwhile, Adalbert Mojrzisch (Germany) reveals the unexpected vibrant colours and patterns of insects under the microscope in Small Backlit Animals. In Cities Gone Wild, Corey Arnold (United States) tracks black bears, coyotes and raccoons across the United States, exploring how these animals are uniquely equipped to co-exist with humans in urban environments.

 

The work of finalist and shortlisted photographers in the Professional competition was judged by: Mariama Attah, Head of Exhibitions at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK; Tandazani Dhlakama, Assistant Curator at Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa; Elisa Medde, Editor in Chief, FOAM Magazine, Netherlands; Ioana Mello, Independent Curator and Photo Editor; Directing Member, FotoRio, Brazil; Sujong Song, Senior Curator, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Republic of Korea; and Mike Trow, Independent Curator and Photo Editor and Chair of the Jury.

 

The overall winners in the Student, Youth, Open and Professional competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 will be announced on the 13 April 2023 and will go on display as part of the exhibition at Somerset House, London from 14 April-1 May 2023. For more information about winners and shortlists please visit www.worldphoto.org

 

PROFESSIONAL COMPETITION 2023 FINALISTS AND SHORTLIST

 

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Finalists

Fan Li, China Mainland

Servaas Van Belle, Belgium

Andres Gallardo Albajar, Spain

Shortlist

Javier Arcenillas, Spain

Pavlo Dorohoi, Ukraine

Peter Franck, Germany

Johanna Marcela Garavito Morales, Colombia

Miguel Gutierrez, Venezuela

Mitsuru Sakurai, Japan

CREATIVE

Finalists

Noemi Comi, Italy

Lee-Ann Olwage, South Africa

Giulia Piermartiri & Edoardo Delille, Italy

Shortlist

Richard Boll, United Kingdom

Alessandro Cinque, Italy

Valentina Fusco, Italy

Juliana Jacyntho, Brazil

Tommaso Sacconi, Italy

Emily Steinberger, USA

DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS

Finalists

Hugh Kinsella Cunningham, UK

Mohammed Salem, Palestinian Territory

Tariq Zaidi, UK

Shortlist

Alessandro Cinque, Italy

Radu Diaconu, Canada

Mingrui Liu, China Mainland

Yoese Mariam, Indonesia

Mads Nissen, Denmark

Frederick Olivera Gonzales, Peru

Emin Sansar, Turkey

 

ENVIRONMENT

Finalists

Jonas Kakó, Germany

Marisol Mendes (Bolivia) &
Federico Kaplan (Argentina)

Axel Javier Sulzbacher, Germany

Shortlist

Lasse Branding, Germany

Fatma Fahmy, Egypt

Haider Khan, India

Angela Ponce, Peru

Simone Tramonte, Italy

Bruno Zanzottera, Italy

LANDSCAPE

Finalists

Fabio Bucciarelii, Italy

Kacper Kowalski, Poland

Bruno Zanzottera, Italy

Shortlist

Cesar Dezfuli, Spain

Nicholas Holt, UK

Amélie Labourdette, France

Brais Lorenzo Couto, Spain

Alessandro Mallamaci, Italy

Francesco Merlini, Italy

George Steinmetz, USA

 

PORTFOLIO

Finalists

James Deavin, UK

Marjolein Martinot, Netherlands

Marylise Vigneau, France

Shortlist

Israel Fuguemann, Mexico

Jack Gasiorowski, Poland

Tadas Kazakevicius, Lithuania

Taiye Omokore, Nigeria

Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle, Belgium

PORTRAITURE

Finalists

Edgar Martins, Portugal

Jean-Claude Moschetti, France

Ebrahim Noroozi, Islamic Republic of Iran

Shortlist

Jae In Lee, Republic of Korea

Toby Binder, Germany

Jerome Delay, France

Colin Delfosse, Belgium

Sasha Maslov, Ukraine

SPORT

Finalists

Al Bello, USA

Andrea Fantini, Italy

Thomas Morel-Fort, France

Shortlist

Giuseppe Carotenuto, Italy

Josef Hlavka, Czech Republic

Ronald Hoogendoorn, Netherlands

Anthony Smith, Canada

John Wessels, South Africa

Nicola Zolin, Italy

STILL LIFE

Finalists

Carloman Macidiano Céspedes Riojas, Peru

Jagoda Malanin, Poland

Kechun Zhang, China Mainland

Shortlist

Austin Crail, USA

Alun Crockford, UK

Elaine Duigenan, UK

Klaus Lenzen, Germany

Rodrigo Masina Pinheiro, Brazil

Liz Mcburney, UK

WILDLIFE & NATURE

Finalists

Corey Arnold, USA

Adalbert Mojrzisch, Germany

Sriram Murali, India

Shortlist

Martin Broen, USA

Julia Christe, Germany

Masahiro Fujita, Japan

Dillon Marsh, South Africa

Aneesh Sankarankutty, India

Zhu Zhu, Canada

 

 

 

New Delhi 28 February 2023