‘Decade of Change’ Photography Prize Winners Highlight Environmental Issues in Traveling Exhibition

1854 & British Journal of Photography announced the winners of the first Decade of change price

From the creators of Portrait of Humanity and Portrait of Britain, two of the most viewed photographic exhibitions in history, Decade of change is a new environmental photography award designed to harness the universal power of art and imagery to galvanize climate action.

Two series, 40 unique images and one moving image – which together cover stories across the globe – were named this year’s winners by a jury of figures from politics, activism, science and the arts. From farmer suicide in India to indigenous conceptions of nature in Ecuador, from wildfires in the American West to water stress in South Africa, the rich and urgent curation of the work is a masterful exploration of the climate crisis under all circumstances. its facets.

The decade of change is expected to culminate with a major international photography exhibition touring in Jockey Club Museum on Climate Change May 27 for 3 months and New York later this year (tbc).

The inaugural jury for the Decade for Change was made up of one of the most important panels to date, including Terry Tamminen, former CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation; Paul Dickinson, Founder and Executive Chairman of CDP; Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President of the Association of Women and Indigenous Peoples of Chad (AFPAT) and other major voices in climate discourse and activism.

Among the winners of the series is First witnesses by Vivay Jodha. Although they contribute the least to the causes of climate change, developing countries are the hardest hit by its impacts. First witnesses is a series of poignant portraits of the Indian farming community – many of whom borrow money to rent land or buy seeds, but are often unable to repay their loans when increasingly erratic weather conditions ruin their crops. Since 1995, this inability to repay loans or maintain viable farms has led more than 300,000 Indian farmers to commit suicide.

Having started four years ago, Jodha’s ongoing project, First witnesses, focuses on the survivors – mostly widows – who are the first witnesses to this largely climate-induced tragedy.

Kawsak Sacha (The Living Jungle) by Evangelos Daskalakis is the other winner of the Series. Kawsak Sacha is a poetic documentary series that ruminates on man’s ability to coexist with the natural world. Located within Sarayaku, an indigenous Kichwa community in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the project explores the concept of ‘Kawsak Sacha’, or ‘the living jungle’ – which understands the forest as a living being formed from and communicates with all beings. who live within it: its protective spirits, its animals, its plants, its trees, its waterfalls and its rivers.

Having lived with the community for some time, photographer Evangelos Daskalakis has seen how “a society that looks poor at first glance, due to its lack of material goods, manages to interpret the notion of wealth differently: by rather privileging nature, simplicity, life in common, creativity and solidarity.

Inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Unique Image Contest covers the People, Urban, Nature and Futures categories. Among the laureates, Lena C Emery highlights the unrecognized importance of fungi, especially as a vital agent in relieving the pressures we place on the natural world and its resources. Raquel Rivas Navas considers the looming wave of “climate migration” as some areas are rendered uninhabitable due to climate change, and Slater King reflects on the human cost of plastic pollution. Other winners include Jacob Dykes, Michael Snyder, Hui Choi, Yask Desai, Ciril Jazbec, Micha Serraf and more.

The winner of the moving picture is Cambodia on fire by Sean Gallagher. Year after year, fires burn in record numbers in the forests of northern and central Cambodia. Today, it is estimated that only 3% of primary forest remains in the whole country.

Using a unique blend of drone cinematography and Cambodian poetry, Sean Gallagher’s winning film explores the dramatic changes in Cambodia’s landscapes as well as the emotional impact that wildfires and deforestation have had on the Cambodian people.