The world in peril in 128 images at World Press Photo 2024

War, disease and climate change are reflected in 128 award-winning images from the prestigious World Press Photo competition, whose 17th exhibition opens in Montreal on Wednesday.

The world is burning, drying up and fighting. Humans are facing inequalities, corruption and armed conflicts in which children are dying. Our observations on the state of the world are trying and unequivocal when we walk the walls of the Marché Bonsecours gallery.

More than 60,000 photos from 130 countries were submitted to the competition this year. In the various categories, 31 people were rewarded, including Quebec documentary photographer Charles-Frédérick Ouellet, who is the second person from Quebec to be selected among the winners. Only Roger Lemoyne, in 1999, had achieved the same accomplishment.

Charles-Frédérick Ouellet submitted a series of images captured in the summer of 2023 in the heart of the fires that ravaged the province’s forests to the competition. Interested in soil regeneration, the photographer took SOPFEU training so he could join the teams deployed in the field to fight the fires.

I think the jury selected an image that had an iconic character, that could transcribe a situation within a single image.explains the photographer in front of the photo in which we can see auxiliary fighter Théo Dagnaud, perched on a rock to check that the ground around him no longer represents a risk.

The Quebec photographer was rewarded in the Single Images category, but the selected photo is part of the series Force majeureexhibited in its entirety on the second floor of the gallery. Of course, as a photographer, you always want the whole series to be taken. The visual narrative was constructed in such a way that it works within a dozen images.he emphasizes, nevertheless very proud of his presence among the award-winning artists.

For exhibition director Marika Cukrowski, the winning photo by the Quebecer stands out for what it means beyond what it shows. The three axes that are explored by the jury members are the visual and artistic aspect of the image, the story it tells and what it represents, she explains. I have the feeling that Canada, in the world, is seen as an inexhaustible natural expanse. Charles’ photo shows us that, like everywhere else, climate change is raging here too.

What resonates most ardently for Charles-Frédérick Ouellet is the fatigue that unfolds in all facets of the image.

I like that we understand the fatigue of the human being at the same time as the fatigue of the territory.

For him, immersion in the field is crucial to carrying out high-level photographic work. You have to be able to understand what people are going through, build relationships with a team, feel that you are visually transcribing what is happening in an honest and faithful way, he says. I open up a kind of more poetic imagination around that to say that what is in the photo is not just facts, it is a relationship to life.

He is also careful to leave clues to lead to an understanding of what is happening outside the image. For me, Théo’s gaze literally coming out of the frame forces you to look outside, he says. There’s something that keeps you in the scene. You move around in it, you ask yourself questions, and there are many layers of meaning to be found.

Dying to carry the images

The competition, which began in Amsterdam in 1955, continues to fascinate with the power of images that need no words.

What we wanted to highlight from the 2024 exhibition is the risk-taking of the media, who are literally risking their lives to report images.says Marika Cukrowski, pointing to the photo that is the big winner of the year in all categories.

We can see the state of the world through the eyes of photographers, but 116 media representatives have lost their lives in Gaza since October.

The winning photo, titled A Palestinian woman hugs her niece’s body, allowed the jury to highlight the current event that they considered the most important, but they deliberately avoided selecting an image that showed the faces of dead children.reports the exhibition director. We understand everything without showing the horror, she adds. And the winning photographer is still working in Gaza at the moment.

The Pain of a Father by Turkish photographer Adem Altan is also one of the scenes that gives us the impression of making a lot of noise even though they are frozen on paper. This photo contains all the elements of an iconic image, believes Marika Cukrowski. We see the human loss of the father who does not want to let go of the hand of his daughter who died in the debris of the earthquake, then we understand the damage of the natural disaster and we are even able to continue the reflection and understand the problems of corruption in this country that made it so that the building in which the young girl was located was not built according to seismic standards.

If the route of the World Press Photo this year is particularly heavy According to the exhibition director, she believes that it is nevertheless imbued with a truth that is essential to care about. Some of the photographs chosen are bearers of hope and I would like to see constructive reports, which provide answers, multiply in the coming years.she adds.

She also notes that it is still difficult to promote the work of female photographers. There is progress, but I know there can be even more winners next year, she says. We make sure to always choose more than 50% women or non-binary people in our jury.

The World Press Photo Montréal runs until October 14 at Marché Bonsecours.