The 2016 World Press Photo exhibition, which aims for developing and promoting quality visual journalism, will be held in several cities in Asia till the end of November, including Koshigaya, Hong Kong, and Taipai.

Organized by the World Press Photo Foundation, this exhibit is based on the idea, according to the foundation’s website, that people deserve “to see their world and express themselves freely.” This year’s exhibit displays over 100 photographs, ranging from nature to sports, long-term projects and general and spot news.

One of the standout photos, by Corentin Fohlen from France, commemorates the victims of the terrorist attacks in 2015 against Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine in Paris. The attacks were the response to a number of controversial cartoons Charlie Hebdo had published, about Muhammad. In the second of these attacks, 12 people died including the publishing director, Charb, and several other prominent cartoonists. Parisians demonstrated their solidarity with the victims, and voiced their support for freedom of speech, at the end of a rally at the Place de la Nation in Paris, on Jan. 11.

Photos from North Korea, by the American photojournalist David Guttenfelder, also discuss the topic of freedom of the press. A standout taken from his long-term project “Life in the Cult of Kim” shows a video shot from the mourning period for the late Kim Jong-il, screened during a concert celebrating what would have been his 70th birthday, on Feb. 16.

Other photos in the exhibit deal with subjects such as the refugee crisis in Europe, and natural disasters around the world. Refugees seem to be the main topic of the year for many photojournalists, attracting attention and offering opportunity of discussion, globally. However, the pictures of refugee children, by Magnus Wennman from Sweden, capture their harsh reality plainly, and possibly most effectively.

In addition to so many photos of the world’s problems, there are also unforgettable sports and nature photos in the exhibition, including shots from the winner of first prize singles by Christian Walgram from Austria, at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, and underwater shots of humpback whales off the Pacific coast of Mexico, by the Mexican photographer Anuar Patjane Floriuk.

Overall, the 59th edition of the World Press Photo exhibition has a wide range from nature to news, but each type of photograph also has its own values. Some photos can be an awakening for the viewers, or they can deliver the simple beauty of daily lives. Others shed light on global problems and suggest some solution.
Regardless of the category, photos that are worth spreading do not need further explanation by the experts. If we just look closely enough at the pictures in the exhibit and feel them, we can empathize with the values from these photographs. This exhibition of photos shows diverse values, and the best photos are worth spreading in this sense.

Such values of photographs do not have highness or lowness. A news photo delivers its own values such as preservation of democracy, and a natural photo delivers its own values such as harmony with the environment. All types of the photographs are worth spreading. That is why this exhibition is going on continuously around the world.

You can still see the World Press Photo 2016 exhibition in Koshigaya, Japan, till Nov. 6 at Aeon Lake Town Kaze; in Hong Kong, China till Nov. 16 at LO Gallery & L1 Gallery, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre; and in Taipai, Taiwan till Nov. 24 at Studio 94.

By Kim Jang-hoon
Division of English ‘14