The International Center of Photography and Film (EFTI) opens its doors to present the exhibition of the 27th edition of the International Award for Humanitarian Photography Luis Valtueña, which annually convenes Doctors of the World to publicize the sensitivity and commitment of photojournalists who, through their eyes, bring us closer to the most difficult realities of the world.
The exhibition can be visited from February 24 to March 27 to bring closer parallel universes that do not always appear in the media and that humanitarian photography gives them their place in this exhibition: because their stories deserve to be told. The winning project was “Inside the armed revolution in Myanmar”, by photojournalist Siegfried Moddola: also on display will be the finalist series by Adra Pallón for “Demotanasia”, Eduardo Soteras for “Tigray: Ethiopia sinks into chaos” and Anna Surinyach for “Sea of Mourning”.
This year’s winner was Siegfried Moddola, an Italian photojournalist who wanted to portray the current civil war in Myanmar, where thousands of people have died since 2021 and 1.4 million people are displaced. In the midst of the horror, the protagonists of this series, the Karenni soldiers, who are motivated to continue resisting and fighting for their families and homes, resist.
The first runner-up prize went to Adra Pallón, a photographer who uses the image as a means to explain the social issues in which he is immersed. With “Demotanasia”, he looks at Galicia, one of the most aged and depopulated areas in Europe, whose inhabitants are increasingly in need of care and social and health assistance, but this attention is not forthcoming due to the passivity of the administrations.
The second runner-up was Eduardo Soteras, a photojournalist specializing in Human Rights. He was awarded with his series “Tigray: Ethiopia sinks into chaos” where he recounts the civil war unleashed in 2020 in the region of Tigray between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the federal government. A conflict that has been going on for four years now, which has led to an endless spiral of atrocities by both sides of the conflict with thousands of displaced civilians.
Finally, the award for the third runner-up went to Anna Surinyach, journalist and photographer whose projects focus on migration and human rights. The series Mar de Luto is the result of years of documenting different migratory routes to Europe through the Mediterranean. Disappearances and deaths cause a terrible emotional impact on their families and communities, who have to deal with uncertainty, grief and fear. Ninety percent of the bodies washed out to sea are unidentified.
