Overall Winners 2023

In 2011, my dear friend and the photojournalist, Anton Hammerl, travelled to Libya to cover the conflict between pro-regime and anti-Gaddafi forces. On 5 April he was forcefully abducted and killed by government militia. Frustrated by the lack of progress in the investigation to find his mortal remains, in 2022 I took matters into my own hands and travelled to Libya. This previously unseen body of work is structured as a self-portrait of Anton Hammerl through the people he photographed and met, and others involved in the conflict (freedom fighters or their descendants, ex-militia, local residents, Gaddafi loyalists or lookalikes, and so on). They were selected because they resembled him, espoused similar ideas and beliefs, or reminded me of him at different stages of our friendship. This project portrays a complex story, warped by absence, that talks of the difficulty of documenting, testifying, witnessing, remembering, honouring and imagining.

I think that a good picture does not need colour, it just needs to capture the desired moment in time. While I was shooting Crested Caracaras in flight in South Texas, I noticed these two, which were perched in a very similar way. They were staring in the same direction and not moving, almost as if they were posing for me. I was amazed by their powerful personalities.

Yunnan opera is an important branch of traditional Chinese opera, and one that reflects the colourful Yunnan ethnic multiculturalism of southwest China. However, in today’s fast-developing society, this regional drama is in decline, and is gradually being forgotten by most people. There are only a few folk troupes remaining that represent Yunnan Quyi culture, and the average age of their members and audiences is increasing. This particular theatre is located along a small alley and charges just seven yuan for a ticket.

The opening ceremony for this school in Tianjin, China, was scheduled for September 4, 2022, and more than 2,000 people were expected to attend. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic no one was there. The neat rows of brightly coloured chairs create a strong sense of order in this lonely photograph, where everything seems to be fake.