G+J Presents World Press Photo Exhibition

For the 18th time Gruner + Jahr in cooperation with “Stern” and “Geo” are presenting the German premiere of the World Press Photo exhibition, which opened last Thursday.

At the beginning, G+J CEO Bernd Buchholz welcomed almost 300 visitors to the G+J Pressehaus am Baumwall and congratulated Samuel Aranda, the winner of the World Presse Photo 2011. His award-winning photo shows a Yemenite mother holding her injured son in her arms in a mosque. In his speech, Buchholz honored the dangerous work of photographers in crisis regions: “The winning photograph symbolizes the deadly risks that the rebels of the Arab Spring were and are still facing. It is good to know that the mother and her son in the photo as well as the photographer are alive and well. I emphasize this because this year we once again had unfortunate deaths among the journalists and photographers.” Among others, the French photographer Rémi Ochlik, who was killed in Syria at the age of 28 in February and had won the WPP award in the category reportage / photo series, was commemorated.

This year, a total of 101,254 photos were submitted by 5,247 photographers from 124 different countries. The winning photo by Samuel Aranda was published in the “New York Times” and is a special testament to the Arab Spring: “The photo shows a moment of rest, lightness, compassion, and also peace. It is very moving and differs from other documents of the Arab Spring that are characterized by aggression and violence,” said Jure Janssen of World Press Photo, explaining the selection of the picture as photo of the year.

Samuel Aranda told the story about the photo, which he took on October 15, 2011: “I had been in Sanaa for ten days already. After a demonstration, snipers started firing on the crowd and tanks were bombarding the streets. I, along with many other people, ran into the mosque. It was the only secure place and was quickly transformed into a makeshift hospital. In the midst of the chaos of wounded people I discovered the woman, Fatima, who was holding her son in her arms. The woman wasn’t crying, she was simply taking care of her son.”

A jury of 16 selects the winners of the World Press Photo award every year in nine different categories. This year, four awards went to productions of “National Geographic Deutschland.” One of the winners was present at the opening: Carsten Peter placed second in the category “Nature” for his documentary of the Hang Son Doong cave in Vietnam. The “National Geographic Deutschland” photographer said that he had already had a keen interest in the extremes of nature when he was just a child. With his photographs, he aspires to do justice to the beauty of nature, Peter said on the day of the opening.

“This year, the participants were clearly evaluated more by journalistic standards and less by conceptual standards. In addition, we are presenting the multimedia award for the second time, which can be viewed only online; its winners can be found on our website,” said Jure Janssen, explaining the distinctions with the previous years.

Gruner + Jahr, “Stern” and “Geo” will be presenting the German premiere of the WPP exhibition in the next three years, as well. This year, it takes place from May 4 until June 3 and includes 158 works by 57 photographers. The photographs can be viewed every day from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Wednesdays until 8 p.m. in the lobby of the G+J Pressehaus; entrance to the exhibition is free.