Main image by Evgeniy Maloletka

World Press Photo Exhibition 2023 opens at Odesa National Fine Arts Museum on March 1st, 2024. Odessa is the final city on the national exhibition tour, so it is the last opportunity for Ukrainian viewers to see the results of the 66th annual World Press Photo contest — the best photojournalism and documentary photography of 2022. The event in Ukraine is supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine. The exhibition partner — Odesa Photo Days Festival.

The global winner of the World Press Photo 2023 contest was Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka with his photo "Mariupol Maternity Hospital Airstrike", which he took in the besieged city in March 2022. This year's European jury was headed by Kateryna Radchenko, curator and founder of the international festival of contemporary photography Odesa Photo Days.

Kateryna Radchenko, curator and founder of Odesa Photo Days Festival (Ukraine), 2023 Contest European jury chair, shared her insights,

“For the jury it was really important to show the stories from Ukraine. We decided that we will not try to avoid shock images. A war is a war and the world has to see it how it is. It is especially valuable for me to have the opportunity to show this exhibition in Odessa, the city where the Odesa Photo Days festival was held annually until 2022.”

By Oleg Samoylenko

In total, the exhibition features images of all 24 regional winners from 23 countries. The 2023 World Press Photo Contest winning works represent both major news events and important moments overlooked by the mainstream media in 2022: from the devastating documentation of the war in Ukraine and historic protests in Iran, to the realities in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and the many faces of the climate crisis in Morocco, Australia, Peru, and Kazakhstan.

Brent Lewis, photo editor at The New York Times, co-founder of Diversify Photo, and 2023 Contest global jury chair, said about this year’s entries,

“The photographs that we have chosen to represent 2022 are indicative of this moment in time, and will serve as historical documents of what the year was like for future generations to look back on and hopefully learn from.”

The exhibition will be on view from March 1st until March 29th, 2024. The opening is on March 1 at 15:00. Odesa National Fine Arts Museum (5a Sofiivska st.) works from Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00-17:00 (cash desk by 16:30). Free admission on the opening day. The ticket price for subsequent days will be 100 UAH (50 UAH reduced ticket). 
 
About

Odesa Photo Days is an international contemporary photography festival founded in 2015 as a response to the war in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. Since February 24, 2022, Odesa Photo Days has changed its focus: the festival in Odessa has been canceled, and the team is now working with Ukrainian photographers and the international community to tell the world what is happening in Ukraine and help those affected by the war.

The World Press Photo Foundation is a global platform connecting photojournalists, documentary photographers and our worldwide audiences through trustworthy storytelling. World Press Photo was founded in 1955 by a group of Dutch photographers who organized a contest to expose their work to an international audience. The World Press Photo Foundation is supported by its strategic partners, the Dutch Postcode Lottery and PwC.