Photographs showcased at the World Press Photo exhibition in Kigali that were taken by 45 world-class professional photographers from 28 countries, Rwanda, have moved some people. According to the statement made by Nicola Bellomo, the EU envoy to Rwanda, the showcase this year reflects on a year during which global social justice movements, armed conflicts, the Covid-19 pandemic, and natural occurrences have changed the world. Different categories of photographs were showcased at the event this year including; environment, general news, contemporary issues, long-term projects, nature, portraits, and spot news. Below are some of the nominees for world press photos of the year, according to the word press photo website: Photo1:The photo of the year nominated was “The first embrace” by Mad Nissen (Politiken/Panos Pictures), which illustrates an older woman, Rosa Luzia Lunardi (85), being embraced by a nurse, Adriana Silva da Costa Souza, at Viva Bem care home in São Paulo, Brazil. This was after care homes across the country had closed their doors to all visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing millions of Brazilians from visiting their elderly relatives. This was the first hug Rosa had received in five months. This is written in the description of the Image. Photo2 Another work nominated as a photo of the year is “Fighting Locust Invasion in East Africa” by Luis Tato (Washington post). This one illustrates Henry Lenayasa, chief of the settlement of Archers Post, in Samburu County, Kenya, who was trying to scare away a massive swarm of locusts ravaging the grazing area on 24 April last year. Locust swarms devastated large areas of land, just as the coronavirus outbreak had begun to disrupt livelihoods. Photo3 “Injured Man after a port explosion in Beirut” by Lorenzo Tugnuli (Washington post) was also among the nominated photo of the year. This one illustrated an event that happened on August 4, last year, when an injured man was standing near the site of a massive explosion in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, while firefighters worked to put out the fires that engulfed the warehouses after the explosion. More than five works were nominated as the photo of the year, and others were nominated in different categories like second prizes, such as; Photo 4: “Doctor Peyo and Mister Hassen” by Jeremy lempin which illustrated a young woman, Marion (24), who has metastatic cancer, embraces her son Ethan (7) in the presence of Peyo, a horse used in animal-assisted therapy, in the Séléne Palliative Care Unit at the Centre Hospitalier de Calais, in Calais, France. The exhibition aims at encouraging the public to reflect on contemporary issues and events happening worldwide, according to a statement from Nicola Bellomo. Mutore Evode, a student at the University of Kigali, who attended the exhibition shared her thoughts with The New Times. “Sometimes there are things we think can’t happen or exist due to our cultures and the life we live, but when you see such situations portrayed in some of the images here, you see what happening around the world and reflect on them,” he said. Joyce Niyonkuru, a mother of one, said that these kinds of exhibitions showcasing different situations worldwide teach us to empathize and put ourselves in other peoples shoes before we judge them.
