World Press Photo
is back in Montreal

The most prestigious professional photography competition in the world at Marché Bonsecours

The 2019 edition of the Expo World Press Photo Montréal will be presented at Marché Bonsecours, from August 28 to September 29, 2019. Often referred to as the Oscars of photography, World Press Photo is the most prestigious professional photography competition in the world. In 2019, the winning photos are divided into eight categories: News, General Information, Contemporary Topic, Portrait, Environment, Nature, Sport and Long-Term Project. Actress and director Monia Chokri is the spokesperson for Expo World Press Photo Montréal in 2019.

Often referred to as the Oscars of photography, World Press Photo is the most prestigious professional photography competition in the world.

At a ceremony held on April 11 in Amsterdam, the international jury of World Press Photo announced the winner of its prestigious annual photojournalism competition for the Photo of the Year Award.

The 2019 Grand Prize went to American John Moore for his photograph showing a two-year-old girl in tears during the arrest of her mother, a Honduran migrant, in the United States. In June 2018, the family attempted to cross the border between Mexico and the United States. This image was one of the six best photos of the year, finalists for the prestigious award.

Title: Crying Girl on the Border © John Moore, Getty Images

About John Moore, 2019 Photo of the Year Award Winner

John Moore – Getty Images

John Moore is an American photojournalist and correspondent based in New York, working for Getty Images. Since 2010, he has been travelling throughout the United States to witness the effects of the recession on families and immigration issues, including the militarization of the American border. He is the author of the photograph of Yanela Varela, a two-year-old Honduran woman, who quickly became the symbol of current migration policy.

The other five finalists for the 2019 Photo of the Year were: Mohammed Badra (European Pressphoto Agency) for his image depicting a man and child receiving medical treatment after an attack in Syria; Marco Gualazzini (Independent) for the image of an orphan passing in front of a wall displaying drawings of grenade launchers in Chad; Catalina Martin-Chico (Panos) for the image of a pregnant woman after five consecutive pregnancies interrupted during her years among FARC in Colombia; Chris McGrath (Getty Images) for his picture of an unidentified man trying to hold the press back while Saudi investigators arrive at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul; Brent Stirton (Getty Images) for his picture of Petronella Chigumbura, a member of an all-female anti-poaching unit called Akashinga in Zimbabwe. These images will be among the photographs selected for the 2019 international exhibition.

Pieter ten Hoopen: first winner of the new Story of the Year award

Pieter ten Hoopen – Agence Vu

The new Story of the Year prize was awarded to Pieter ten Hoopen from Sweden, Agence Vu, for his series of photos showing a migrant caravan passing through. Pieter ten Hoopen is also the founder of the Civilian Act in Stockholm, Sweden.

Story of the Year, The Migrant Caravan

Having covered the aftermath of war and several humanitarian crises since 2004, ten Hoopen has worked for long periods in Afghanistan and Iraq, including being based in Kabul and Nairobi. His work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including Photographer of the Year in Sweden on three occasions, as well as three awards at the World Press Photo in 2008, 2010 and 2019.

Title: The Migrant Caravan  © Pieter Ten Hoopen, Agence VU/Civilian Act

Bénédicte Kurzen and Sanne De Wilde are the first photographers in the history of World Press Photo to co-author a series that won the first prize in the Portraits category for their story entitled Land of Ibeji.

Nigeria has one of the highest occurrences of twins in the world, particularly among the Yoruba people in the southwest. In the southwestern town of Igbo-Ora, dubbed ‘The Nation’s Home ofTwins’, reportedly almost every family has at least one set. In 2018, the town hosted a TwinsFestival, attended by over 2,000 pairs. The first-born twin is usually called Taiwo, meaning ‘having the first taste of the world’, while the second-born is named Kehinde, ‘arriving after the other’. Communities have developed different cultural practices in response to this high birthrate, from veneration to demonization. In earlier times, twins in some regions were considered evil and vilified or killed at birth. Nowadays, the arrival of twins is generally met with celebration, and many think they bring good luck and wealth. Two colour filters were used, to express duality: of identity, of photographers, and of attitude to twins.

Biography of Bénédicte Kurzen

Bénédicte Kurzen (France) began her photographic career in Israel in 2003. She moved to Johannesburg in 2005, where she co-founded Eve Photographers, a collective of women photographers.

Title: Land of Ibeji © Bénédicte Kurzen, Noor and Sanne de Wilde, Noor

Kurzen has been monitoring conflicts and socio-economic changes in Africa for 10 years. She produced the Next of Kin, The Boers Last Stand and Amaqabane series on the lives of anti-apartheid veterans. In 2011, she was awarded a Pulitzer Center scholarship to produce a work on Nigeria, A Nation Lost to Gods. Her photographs are presented at Visa pour l’Image, where she is nominated for the 2012 Visa d’Or. A member of Noor since 2012, she moved to Lagos that same year, continuing her coverage of Africa and Nigeria, in addition to being a lecturer in journalism at the American University of Nigeria. With Sanne De Wilde, she won the first prize in the World Press Photo 2019, Portraits category.

Biography of Sanne De Wilde

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium’s Sanne De Wilde explores the role of genetics and how it shapes and affects communities. Her series The Dwarf Empire was awarded the 2012 Photo Academy Award and the Emerging International Photography Award DST in 2013. Her Samoa Kekea series, which focuses on albinism in Samoa, received the Nikon Press Award 2014 in the category of best young photographer. The British Journal of Photography named her one of the “best-emerging talents in the world”. In 2016, she received the Firecracker Grant 2016, the PHmuseum Women’s Photographers Grant and the Zilveren Camera Award for her series The Island of the Colorblind.

Title: Land of Ibeji © Bénédicte Kurzen, Noor and Sanne de Wilde, Noor

de Wilde has published in The Guardian, The New Yorker, Le Monde, CNN and Vogue, as well as exhibited her work (Voies OFF, Tribeca Film Festival, Circulations, Lagos Photo, Lodz Fotofestiwal, IDFA, STAM and EYE). Since 2013, she has been working with the Dutch newspaper and magazine De Volkskrant in Amsterdam and joined the Noor agency in 2017. Together with Bénédicte Kurzen, she won first prize in the World Press Photo 2019, category Portraits (Reports).

Biography of Whitney C. Johnson

Whitney C. Johnson is Vice President of Visual and Immersive Experiences at National Geographic, where she oversees digital photography, video and immersive experiences after serving as Assistant Director of Photography for National Geographic. Her work has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International, the Society of Publication Designers and Webbys.

Image : Expo World Press Photo Montréal

Prior to joining National Geographic, Johnson was Director of Photography at the New Yorker, where she oversaw the photography component on several platforms and launched the Instagram account. Her work has earned her two Ellies awarded by the American Society of Magazine Editors, several Excellence Awards from the Society of Publication Designers and a Peabody Award. Whitney C. Johnson chaired the jury for the World Press Photo 2019.

Monia Chokri, spokesperson for Expo World Press Photo Montréal.

At the end of May, the team at Expo World Press Photo Montréal announced the name of its 2019 spokesperson, actress and director Monia Chokri. Her first feature-length fiction film, La femme de mon frère, which she directed and scripted, was screened in May 2019 as part of the Un certain regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. Winner of a Prix coup de cœur from the jury, the film was screened in Quebec on June 7.

Expo World Press Photo Montréal will be presented at Marché Bonsecours, from August 28 to September 29, 2019
Facebook : www.facebook.com/ExpoWPPMTL/
Instagram : www.instagram.com/expowppmtl/
Twitter : twitter.com/expowppmtl

Read also: Photo Gallery: Montreal Jazz Festival