World's Best Press Photos on Show in Belgrade

Visitors looking at one of the exhibited photos | Photo by Balkan Insight

The exhibitions, which showed some 161 photos taken by 57 international photojournalists, opened simultaneously in Belgrade, Edinburgh, Scotland and Santiago, Chile.

The photos on display at Belgrade’s Dom Omladine, were selected by an international jury from more than 100,000 entries from 124 countries.

Speaking on behalf of the World Press Photo Foundation, Erik de Kruijf stressed the importance of photojournalism in helping people understand key political and social events.

“Photojournalism raises awareness and understanding of our complex and diverse world,” de Kruijf said.

Ambassador of Holland Laurent Louis Stokvis speaking at the opening of World Press photo exhibition | Photo by Balkan Insight

De Kruijf said that this year’s winner of the World Press Photo of the Year makes viewers think.  The winner is a Pieta-like photo of a mother cradling her wounded son, taken by a New York Times photographer Samuel Aranda during the protest in Yemen.

“It gets us talking about the political situation in Yemen and the rest of the Arab world, and possibly of past revolutions, or those in the future.  It gets us talking about religion and the meaning of it today. It gets us discussing art and our collective visual memory.”

“It gets us discussing photographic technicalities and ethics in photojournalism. Most importantly, it makes us aware of our shared humanity by its universal expression of love and affection,” said de Kruijf, adding that good photojournalism should “connect people, and inspire tolerance”.

Dragana Nikolic Solomon, head of the media department of the OSCE mission in Serbia, talked about the dangers of photojournalism reminding the audience of the death of photojournalist Rémi Ochlik during the violent clashes in Holms, Syria.

She agreed that the exhibition is “a kind of visual document” of key events that impacted the world in the previous year.

“Not a single one of these photos can leave you cold, whether it is the photo of an 86 year old man that gently helps his wife in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, or young girls who, because of culture and traditions in countries such as Nepal, India, Afghanistan and Yemen, get married, sometimes as early as the age of four,” Nikolic Solomon added.

A photographer reporting on the exhibition | Photo by Balkan Insight

Thanks to the cooperation of the OSCE mission in Serbia and the embassy of Holland, several workshops and seminars for photojournalists were organized alongside the exhibition.

The director of Dom Omladine, Milan Vucic, said that the World Press Exhibition is a good way to close the 2011/12 season in this cultural centre, since it incorporates the drama of circumstances throughout the world, as well as in Serbia.

Before reaching the Serbian capital, the exhibition was already shown in the city of Novi Sad from July 4 to 17.  The World Press Photo Exhibition is open in Belgrade until the August 2.