World Press Photo Exhibition opening at Library
An extraordinary photo essay by Australia’s Matthew Abbott, of Warddeken rangers undertaking ancient fire management practices in West Arnhem Land, has won Photo Story of the Year in the annual World Press Photo Contest and will go on public display for the first time in Australia at the Library, from Saturday 21 May.
Abbott’s ‘Saving Forests with Fire’ series will be featured alongside more than 100 powerful and evocative images as part of the popular World Press Photo Exhibition.
The World Press Photo Contest recognises the best photojournalism and documentary photography of the previous year. For the first time, the 2022 Photo Contest applied a new regional strategy, changing the set-up of the annual contest and the judging to increase the level of international representation. The winners were chosen out of 64,823 photographs and open format entries, by 4,066 photographers from 130 countries.
Exhibition visitors will be able to use their own mobile devices to listen to a selection of photographers talking about their award-winning work.
According to State Librarian John Vallance: “World Press is always one of our most popular shows. With good reason. As we crawl out of Covid, it’s particularly good for us to have the windows on the world that only great press photography can provide.”