In recognition of the indispensable position of ladies in images, All About Photograph Journal celebrates those that form the photographic panorama. Now, the winners of the AAP’s forty sixth version on the theme of Girls have been introduced.
The photographic trade remains to be a male-dominated area, however the historical past of images exhibits the outstanding contributions of ladies. Caught between conventional gender roles and creativity, their work was usually neglected and underappreciated.
One well-known instance is Vivian Maier, the French-American road photographer whose works have been found after her demise. By her road images, she crafted an archive of life in Chicago and New York in the course of the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties.
The feminine gaze and visions within the area of images usually focus on identification, society, intimacy, and resistance. As AAP highlights, their difficult views on conventions redefined magnificence and expanded the language of images itself.
Within the forty sixth version, the main focus was clearly set on womanhood and was explored by over 1,700 submissions from photographers from 16 totally different international locations throughout 5 continents.
Various photographic approaches – portraiture, documentary, advantageous artwork, and conceptual images – created a thought-provoking assortment of untold tales.
Whereas this version was centered on girls, AAP welcomed inventive voices from photographers and artists of all genders. Among the many 25 profitable pictures, 17 have been created by girls.
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So, what does it imply to be a lady at this time? Let’s discover the 25 distinctive photographic works that supply wealthy views on this topic, portraying womanhood in all its complexity.
Winner Gallery
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1st Place Winner: Grace Weston (USA)
Picture: Home of Atlas
Collection: Reclaiming the Muse
“My miniature staged photographic sequence examines acquainted muses from previous artworks, tales, and mythology, reframing them in up to date phrases by an intersectional feminist lens.
“In my model of the Atlas fable, the housewife is within the position of supporting the entire world, whereas specializing in the small particulars, reminiscent of, vacuuming the carpet. Evidently girls are sometimes probably the most tasked to scrub up the messes of the world, whether or not international or minute.”
2nd Place Winner: Valentina Sinis (Italy)
Picture: Hidden Stitches: A Clandestine Stitching Workshop in Kabul
Collection: “Had been Afghan Girls to Unveil Their Tales”
“Had been Afghan Girls to Unveil Their Tales” is a venture providing an intimate look into Afghan girls’s lives, highlighting their struggles in a difficult actuality. For the reason that Taliban’s return, Afghanistan has confronted extreme points, together with the erosion of ladies’s rights.
“Over 70 guidelines now limit girls’s entry to training, work, healthcare, and mobility, deeply impacting their lives from public areas to their properties, the place day by day limits stifle motion, alternatives, and selections. Regardless of this, Afghan girls show outstanding resilience. Their decisions—leaving dwelling, operating companies, or organizing in communities—are acts of braveness, reflecting a fierce willpower to protect their identification in a society designed to suppress them.”
third Place Winner: Patricia McElroy (USA)
Picture: Routine
Collection: Between Then & Now
“This physique of labor, Between Then & Now, traces the private journey of caregiving for my 94-year-old mom as she lives with blindness and dementia. It explores our shared legacy of migration between Eire and the U.S., and the way that have has formed reminiscence, cultural identification, and our evolving relationship to put and belonging.
“What started as a want to doc her earlier than dementia took maintain grew to become a deeper reflection on the intertwined histories that form our household. As my mom strikes between moments of readability and confusion, I seize the delicate area the place previous and current, right here and there, converge. These pictures replicate love, loss, resilience, and the methods migration continues to form who we’re and the place we really feel we belong.”
Benefit Award Gallery
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Michele Zousmer (USA)
Title: CRISTINA
Collection: MIS[S]UNDERSTOOD
“MIS[S]UNDERSTOOD explores the pivotal position of ladies within the Irish Traveller neighborhood, highlighting their voices to specific they’re the cornerstone of household life. On this close-knit, culturally wealthy neighborhood, these girls not solely maintain up traditions but in addition navigate the challenges of preserving their lifestyle in a radically altering world. Regardless of being acknowledged as an ethnic tradition they’re discriminated towards in Eire each socially and politically.
“My work humanizes a gaggle usually denied alternatives due to prejudice and misconceptions. I don’t strategy images as an outsider peering in however fairly as a fellow human, prepared to hear and have interaction.”
Piotr Skubisz (Poland)
Picture: Body.
Collection “Portrait of a Poet – A Journey By Layers” Collection
“This sequence of principally monochromatic portraits, titled “Portrait of a Poet – A Journey By Layers”, explores the multifaceted persona of Manka Menga, a Tanzanian poet whose work challenges societal norms and serves as a type of self-expression and remedy.
“The strains on her face, from a day by day morning ritual in honor of her late grandmother, signify a connection to ancestral traditions. They’re additionally like traces of life experiences which have formed her as an artist.
“It is an intimate journey into the poet’s singular world, but a mirrored image of the common human expertise, the place all of us search to commune with ourselves. Highlighting the paradox of human expertise – the distinctive and the common intertwined.”
Chris Yan (China)
Chris Title of the picture: 5 Sisters
Title of the sequence: Historic Fashions
“Beijing is an historic capital with a historical past of three,000 years. Many younger folks at this time have rediscovered historic aesthetics by historic dramas. Qing Dynasty costumes tons of of years in the past have change into a vogue once more.
“In lots of locations of curiosity, many younger folks put on attractive costumes from the Qing Dynasty and take images. Typically, strolling right here, you should have the phantasm of touring by historical past.”
Takayuki Tobita (Japan)
Picture: HolicGirl
Collection: HolicGirls
“This work was created by explaining the idea of the shoot to her and lending her the digicam for some time, permitting her to take selfies freely in a spot the place she felt most relaxed. It was lucky that I used to be in a position to seize such a relaxed and beautiful expression.”
Anqi Hu (China)
Picture: Golden is Her Title
Collection: She, Inside Time
“Amid the shimmer of neon and the hush of rain, she stands—swish but unyielding. Draped in intricate patterns and golden silk, she is greater than a determine of class; she is the embodiment of the Chinese language lady by time. With quiet energy and enduring magnificence, she carries the legacy of generations, mixing historic heritage with fashionable spirit. She, Inside Time is a tribute to Chinese language femininity—timeless, highly effective, and ever-evolving.”
Bahrudin Bandic (Bosnian and Herzegovinian)
Title: Between Shadows and Gentle: A Portrait of Resilience
“A younger lady stands earlier than the set up ‘Mom’s Scarf’ in Srebrenica, a robust tribute to girls affected by warfare. The scarves, donated by girls from Bosnia and Herzegovina and around the globe, symbolize solidarity, remembrance, and resilience. On this second, she embodies the energy of generations who carry the burden of historical past but look towards the longer term with dignity and hope. This portrait is a mirrored image of endurance, identification, and the unbreakable spirit of ladies. “
Anja Bruehling (German / American)
Title: Tenderness
Seroes: Brick Employees
“Tender second between mom and daughter combing her hair within the brick yards surrounding Banaras India.”
Sandra Hernandez (Mexico)
Picture: Magnificence Parlor
Collection: Girls Gaze
“Chợ Đông Ba Market in Hue, Vietnam, isn’t just a hub for native produce and crafts but in addition dwelling to magnificence salons which have change into very important cultural areas. These family-run salons, mixing fashionable and conventional practices, provide greater than haircuts or manicures—they function intimate hubs the place laughter, solidarity, and the scent of natural shampoos combine with native tales.
“Traditionally, girls have tailored city areas to their wants, and these magnificence parlors stand as “secure areas” the place self-care and collective empowerment intersect. This {photograph} is a part of a venture exploring how girls reshape public areas, turning salons into symbols of resilience and neighborhood.”
– Web site hyperlink/Social media: https://vitaflumen.com/
Marika Poquet (France)
Picture: Suri Tribe
Collection: Between Roots and Modifications
“Within the arid folds of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia, the Suri folks dwell to the rhythm of a world usually described as timeless. But simply beneath the floor, they’re among the many first to really feel the stress between ancestral heritage and the accelerating pressures of local weather change, modernization, tourism, training, and infrastructure growth.
“Inside this panorama of quiet transformation, girls stand because the pillars of continuity. They’re the custodians of physique portray, scarification, hairstyles, and ceremonial adornment, traditions which can be excess of aesthetic.
“As main caretakers of their dwelling, girls move down intimate information of the seasons, medicinal crops, and survival. By on a regular basis rituals, they instill values and traditions within the subsequent era.
“Girls play central roles in sustaining communal life. As fashionable pressures mount, they navigate the uneasy terrain between preservation and adaptation.
“Whereas observing their lifestyle, I’m wondering what this tribe will change into. Right here, images turns into not solely a lens of creativeness however of vigilance and questions the way forward for this tribe.”
Nathalie Rubens (USA)
Picture: Braces
Collection: Seasons of Time
“This picture is a part of a venture entitled “Seasons of Time,” which contains a sequence of self-portraits reflecting my expertise as a lady in midlife juxtaposed with pictures of my daughter as she strikes by her teenage years. The photographs in dialog with one another expose how we each are experiencing a sure coming of age, the inevitability of time passing and the dear liminality of ageing.”
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Markku Lahdesmaki (USA/Finland)
Picture: Rose Metropolis Raindrops
Collection: Creative swimmers in sync.
The venture: The IGLTA (Worldwide Homosexual & Lesbian Journey Affiliation) Championships, a swimming occasion in Palm Springs, California. Pictured Rose Metropolis Raindrops from Portland.
Andrea Bettancini (Italy)
Title: Senectude
Collection: Indian Girls
“Portrait of an aged lady in Jodhpur. Aged girls, particularly in conventional households, are thought of the primary transmitters of customs, “guardians of reminiscence,” household tales, and cultural practices. They’re usually the moms and grandmothers who educate the youthful generations, not solely passing down values and faith but in addition preserving culinary, artisanal, and ritual traditions.”
Ingetje Tadros (New Zealand)
Title: Magic
Collection: Girls of the Sahel. (Essential title)
“A girl from the Hausa tribe embraces the colourful custom of Bori, a charming non secular follow that mixes parts of animism, magic, and non secular possession. Bori ceremonies welcome spirits, permitting them to speak with people by possession. Niger, 2024”
Picture : Becalmed
Collection: Telling Tales
“‘Becalmed’ attracts inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen’s story of ‘The Little Mermaid’ in addition to evoking the legendary determine of the siren who lures males to hitch her beneath the waves along with her voice. The siren as charming and exquisite whereas concurrently possessing a lethal voice, a reversal of the mute princess, is depicted by the wave-like curls that maintain the ship-in-a-bottle firmly of their grasp.
Susan Friedman (USA)
Title: Leili
Collection: The sting of endlessly
“The Fringe of Ceaselessly has to do with transition in my life and my re-thinking of portraits. The problem for me was to attempt to signify my love of animals, robust girls, the panorama and my very own private narrative. My home is perched on an increasing panorama.
“There’s a precariousness of life out right here, an animal spirit but one can’t assist interact with the land which represents quite a lot of thriller to me. Life is not that straightforward or easy but it surely’s extra attention-grabbing if we acknowledge there’s a thriller underlying it that we will not (but) clarify. Within the discovery of a distinct a part of my life I’m making an attempt to stability on a extra hyper actual edge.
“At The Fringe of Ceaselessly sequence has to do with transition in my life and my re-thinking of portraits. The problem for me was to attempt to signify my love of animals, robust girls, the panorama and my very own private narrative.”
Caesar Lima (Brazil)
The Uncommon Magnificence Challenge
“Proving that magnificence is certainly greater than pores and skin deep, Caesar Lima’s Uncommon Magnificence Challenge concentrates on fashions and even common day-to-day people which have uncommon pores and skin situations, reminiscent of congenital melanocytic nevi, or CMN, which entails visibly pigmented proliferations on the pores and skin, and Vitiligo, discolorations of the pores and skin attributable to depigmentation.
“Whereas Lima’s lens is concentrated the subject on the pores and skin situations and weird birthmarks, the intent is to not present them for the way totally different they’re, however fairly to have fun the wonder within the uncommon.”
A’ja Dotson (USA)
Picture: “Infinity”
Collection: Storm – collective, unstoppable power
“This picture venture celebrates Black girls’s energy, magnificence, and divine essence by synchronized motion and highly effective imagery. Every body honors their resilience, grace, and unity—reflecting their energy in stillness and movement.”
Jennifer Baron (The Netherlands)
Picture: Whispers of authenticity
Collection: Unveiled Layers
“Whispers of Authenticity – from the sequence Unveiled Layers. A visible journey on identification and vulnerability. Layers peel again in gentle and shadow, revealing fleeting glimpses of the self. This work invitations the viewer to pause between what’s seen and what’s felt and embrace imperfection as reality.”
Susanne Middelberg (Germany)
Picture: Betty Schuurman
Collection: Portraits
“I am enthusiastic about creating portraits of people who deeply resonate with me, no matter their background or label. What issues most is the private connection I share with them and the mutual willingness to really join. Whether or not it is an actor or dancer charming me on stage, a homeless particular person I encounter on the road, or somebody with whom I share an unexpectedly inspiring dialog, I search to seize their essence away from their regular environment.
“Inviting them into my studio permits me to focus solely on the person, stripping away exterior distractions. In my portraits, I try to seize honesty and vulnerability. I imagine that embracing vulnerability not solely enhances our humanity but in addition fosters kindness and empathy in our world. When folks reveal their vulnerabilities, it creates an area for others to do the identical, fostering deeper connections and understanding.
What really fascinates me is capturing the dichotomy of opposing qualities inside an individual concurrently. It is in these moments of complexity and depth that the true essence of humanity shines by.”
Robert Moran (USA)
West African Portraits
“Scarification is a conventional follow in varied cultures, together with some in Ghana the place it holds important cultural which means. The scars, usually seen as symbols of magnificence, identification, and social standing, can signify rites of passage or tribal affiliation.
“I met the younger lady on this {photograph} as she walked alongside the roadside in Ghana. Bandages cowl the newest scarification on her cheeks. Her intense gaze and general look caught my eye and he or she accepted my request to do her portrait.”
Alena Solomonova (Russia/Slovenia)
Picture: Measuring
Collection: Inflexible time
“This can be a self-portrait sequence the place I replicate on the passage of time and the refined, inner adjustments that include age. As I get older, I really feel time accelerating round me—life strikes quicker, but inside, one thing begins to decelerate and even freeze.
“This sequence is my try and make that internal stillness seen. I discover myself changing into extra inflexible—not solely bodily, however emotionally and psychologically. I discover how time settles inside us, shaping and slowly eroding who we’re. These pictures are quiet observations of that transformation.”
Martina Holmberg (Sweden)
Picture: Melanie
Collection: The Outdoors of the Inside
“When Melanie (Mel) was two years previous, she stayed within the automotive along with her older sister whereas her mom went to purchase one thing small on the comfort retailer. When the mom returned, the automotive was on fireplace.
“Her sister died tragically however Mel survived with extreme burns. All through her life, she has lived with the aftermath of the accident and a deviant look. Regardless of difficulties in life, Mel has lived her desires and graduated as a lawyer. She needs to encourage others with a visual distinction to comply with their desires.”
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The profitable works are showcased on All About Photograph Winners Gallery and are additionally revealed within the printed version of AAP Journal #46 Girls.
For extra inspiration, browse the greatest images awards and contests. If you wish to know extra about profitable methods and visible languages, check out our ‘Why Photographs Work’ sequence. Right here we analyze excellent pictures and talk about what it takes to create award-winning imagery.