Main image by Arlette Bashizi
From October 25 to November 17, the Dovzhenko Center will host an exhibition featuring the winners of the World Press Photo 2024 contest. It will showcase the works of the world’s best photographers, including 129 photographs that document war, protests, migration and climate crises, as well as other significant events from 2023. The finalists were selected from over 61,000 entries. Notably, one of the winners is Ukrainian photographer Yuliia Kochetova, recognized for her project "War is Personal."
This year’s World Press Photo 2024 winner in the "Photo of the Year" category is photographer Mohammed Salem for his image "Palestinian Woman Embracing the Body of Her Deceased Niece," captured in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, two series from Ukraine were among the finalists in the European region: Johanna Maria Fritz’s project "Kakhovka HPP: Flooding in a Combat Zone," taken during the evacuation of civilians amidst flooding, and the previously mentioned project "War is Personal" by Ukrainian photographer Yuliia Kochetova, which intertwines photography, poetry, video clips, and music.
"Our competition is an opportunity to pay tribute to the work of photojournalists and documentary photographers around the world, created with courage, intelligence, and ingenuity, and to highlight the importance of the stories they tell, often under incredible circumstances," says Fiona Shields, head of photography at The Guardian and chair of the global jury for the World Press Photo 2024 contest.
The organizers of the exhibitions in Ukraine are the Odesa Photo Days Festival. The World Press Photo exhibition will open on October 24 at the Dovzhenko Center's Museum of Cinema and will run until November 17.