DUBAI: The winners of the tenth season of the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum International Photography Awards (HIPA) were announced this week. The theme of this year’s awards was ‘’Humanity.” American photographer, and co-founder and director of the VII Academy, Gary Knight — one of this year’s judges, said in a press release: “Humanity is the most important thing a lens can capture … photography is a unique tool that gives us the ability to talk about others and show the conditions they are in and the feelings they are going through. It is clear that this year's winners have interpreted humanity in powerful and diverse ways.”
HIPA Secretary General Ali bin Thalith said: “This season we were humbled by the awe-inspiring and emotionally charged photographs we received that not only dug deep, but also unearthed, through photography, the essence of what it means to be human. In these photographs we felt a myriad of emotions ranging from absolute despair to pure kindness and joy.”
Aside from vying for the $120,000 Grand Prize, photographers could also enter the ‘General’ category (open to both black-and-white and color images); the ‘Portfolio’ category and the ‘Architectural Photography’ category. Here, we present a selection of highlights from the winning entries.
Grand prize winner
‘Duty’
Ary Bassous (Brazil)
‘Duty’ by Ary Bassous (Brazil). Supplied
Bassous picked up the main award for this striking, harrowing portrait of Dr. Juliana Ribeiro having just removed her personal protective equipment in order to have her lunch after an eight-hour shift in the COVID-19 emergency room at the University Hospital Clementino Fraga Velho in Rio de Janeiro. Bassous’ image seems to sum up the emotions of the past 18 months while also paying tribute to the extraordinary efforts of frontline healthcare workers around the world.
“Clear signs of prolonged and repeated use of this type of equipment appear on her face. Her features reflect great effort and extreme fatigue due to the human commitment to her moral duty. What grabs you is the hint of sadness in her face as she feels the pain for humanity, as deaths in Brazil exceeded half a million people due to the pandemic,” the caption for the image reads. In its press release, HIPA commented: “The marks on her face share the painful human stories that (have) consumed the entire world.”
Third prize winner: Humanity
‘Blast Scars’
Marc Abou Jaoude (Lebanon)
‘Blast Scars’ by Marc Abou Jaoude (Lebanon). Supplied
Abou Jaoude’s image was taken on August 6, 2020 — two days after the devastating explosion in the Port of Beirut that left at least 220 dead, 6,500 injured and 300,000 displaced from their homes. Here, an injured truck driver stands in same location he was in when the explosion happened. “Despite the massive destruction and the large number of dead and wounded, this driver was lucky enough to live and witness another day,” the caption says.
First prize winner: General (color)
‘Final Destination’
Sameer Al-Doumy (France)
‘Final Destination’ by Sameer Al-Doumy (France). Supplied
The Syrian photographer picked up first place in the ‘General (color)’ category for his beautifully timed shot of migrants caught in the “turbulent waters between Sangat and Cap Blanc-Nez (Cape Blanc-Nez), in the English Channel off the coast of northern France, as they try to cross the maritime border between France and the United Kingdom on August 27, 2020.”
Second prize winner: Architecture
‘Playful Moon’
Amri Arfianto (Indonesia)
‘Playful Moon’ by Amri Arfianto (Indonesia). Supplied
Dubai’s skyline proved a source of creative inspiration in the ‘Architectural Photography’ category, with Indian photographer Rahul Bansal winning fifth prize for an image of the ‘Eye of Dubai.’ Arfianto chose an even more iconic site for his winning image, which shows, HIPA says: “A creative fragmentation of the Burj Khalifa, in which the moon appears as if it is trying to hide behind the most famous tower in the world.”
Fourth prize winner: Portfolio
‘Pareidolia’
Yousef Al-Habshi Al-Hashmi (UAE)
‘Pareidolia’ by Yousef Al-Habshi Al-Hashmi (UAE). Supplied
Al-Hashmi was awarded for his collection of shots of microscopic organisms. “Pareidolia is the tendency for incorrect perception of a stimulus as an object, pattern or meaning known to the observer, such as seeing shapes in clouds, faces in inanimate objects or abstract patterns,” HIPA’s caption reads. “(This) collection attempts to find faces with unique characteristics under the microscope and within a tiny area that barely can be seen.”
Second prize winner: General (color)
‘Camille’
Fatima Zahra Cherkaoui (Morocco)
‘Camille’ by Fatima Zahra Cherkaoui (Morocco). Supplied
Cherkaoui’s use of black backgrounds on her portraits make them look like an old-master’s painting, as she herself noted on her Instagram post of this picture of an 11-year-old girl. “Looks like she's out of an old painting, she's just beautiful,” Cherkaoui wrote. HIPA’s caption for her winning entry praised the range of emotions the photographer had captured in her subject’s eyes.
First prize winner: Humanity
‘Hugs to Survive’
Mads Nissen (Denmark)
‘Hugs to Survive’ by Mads Nissen (Denmark). Supplied
As you might expect, the COVID-19 pandemic was a dominant theme in this year’s HIPA entries. In Nissen’s winning image, 85-year-old Rosa Luzia Lonardi is hugged by nurse Adriana Silva da Costa Souza. “In March 2020, nursing homes across Brazil closed their doors to all visitors, preventing millions from visiting elderly relatives, as authorities instructed to reduce physical contact to a minimum. But in Viva Beam, a simple innovation called the 'hug curtain' was allowed, (through which) people could see and hug their loved ones without risking their lives,” the caption explains. This was “the first hug Rosa had received in five months.”
