Until 6 November, WestLicht will present the most important exhibition of international press photography for the 21st time.

The award for the World Press Photo of the Year went this year to the Canadian Amber Bracken. The red clothes hung on wooden crosses, which can be seen in her photograph Kamloops Residential School, are a commemoration of the children from indigenous communities who have been victims of systematic mistreatment by the Canadian school system. This is the first time in World Press Photo's history that the top prize has been awarded to a photo that does not include people.

Kamloops Boarding School in British Columbia was part of the Canadian Residential School System, which was geared towards the forced assimilation of the indigenous population. Indigenous languages were banned in the schools, children were permanently and forcibly separated from their parents and subjected to physical abuse. In May 2021, a ground-penetrating radar survey of the Kamloops School property uncovered the graves of 215 children.

»It is an image that burns itself into the memory«, the jury's statement said. The photo conveys a »silent moment of global reckoning with the history of colonialism«.

The jury viewed almost 65,000 photos from over 4,000 photographers from 130 countries. The selection process followed a new concept in 2022. Until now, the majority of entries came from Europe and North America - the global South was far less represented. The new model is intended to guarantee more diversity: In a first round, juries in six world regions - Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, South America as well as Southeast Asia and Oceania - awarded four winners each. In a second step, the jury selected the global winners from the 24 regional winners.

All 140 winning photographs will be on display at WestLicht until 6 November.

WORLD PRESS PHOTO 22 
EXTENDED UNTIL 6 NOVEMBER!

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