Here Are The Best Pictures Of Px3 “State Of The World Photography” Contest That Sum Up 2020 (88 Pics)

As 2020 is coming to an end, the Px3 "State of the World" photography contest had already curated the images that sum up this year in pictures. The Prix de la Photographie, Paris (PX3) is a photography award that strives to promote appreciation of photography, discover emerging talent, and introduce photographers from around the world to the artistic community of Paris.

These photos show the events as they happen in an unadulterated, uncensored way. PX3 and State of the World are launching their 2021 competition on November 10th, 2020.

More info: px3.fr | Facebook | Instagram

#1 No Man's Land

With no male northern white rhinos left on the planet, No Man’s Land is a poignant swan song to the dedicated caretakers of the last two remaining females, Fatu and Najin.

The northern white rhino is a subspecies of white rhino that historically roamed across Uganda, Chad, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, following widespread poaching and civil war in their home range, they are now considered extinct in the wild.

Photograph by: Justin Mott, Kenya.

Image credits: Justin Mott

#2 Jin! Jiyan! Azadi! (Women! Life! Freedom!)

The Kurdish-inhabited area in northeastern Syria called Rojava, Among the Kurdish fighters fighting in this area, there are women warriors who are full of love for their friends and passion for the land they were born and raised on. They fight for their beliefs and ideals with the AK47 in their hands.

They are called The Kurdish Women's Defence Units (YPJ). They are dreaming and fighting for the liberation of all oppressed people, beyond the liberation of women.

Photograph by: Yusuke Suzuki, Syria.

Image credits: Yusuke Suzuki

#3 #TouchlessBirthday

My birthday was in the middle of the ongoing coronavirus quarantine. I canceled a get-together. Instead, I went to see my friends and family at theirs. Not that I could go near them. Instead, I photographed them from outside, looking in. I scheduled a time at each location and asked that they stand at their window while I stood in their yards, or on their sidewalk, or across the street. If they lived in a high rise I flew my drone to their window.

Photograph by: Saam Gabbay, USA.

Image credits: Saam Gabbay

#4 Abandoned Elderly—30 Years Post Communism

Thirty years ago Communism ended. After years of living in a state of control, many people fled their country to start a new life. New governments took over but life has remained difficult for many. In Romania and Bulgaria, older people are living in isolated villages. They are living in rural villages far from family and friends. I watched them as they were preparing for the upcoming winter. They spent their days foraging in the forest for wild mushrooms, spices, and berries, collecting firewood and corn for their few animals.

These people are spending their last years alone and in poverty.

Photograph by: Michele Zousmer, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Image credits: Michele Zousmer

#5 Facing Extinction

Nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. One-third of animal and plant species could be gone in the next 50 years. Photographing these animals in the wild is a truly humbling experience, especially since humans are responsible for the many challenges they face. It is difficult to imagine that these majestic animals may become extinct in the near future. With this ongoing project, I want to show what would be lost if we don’t protect them.

Photograph by: Kevin De Vree, Indonesia.

Image credits: Kevin De Vree

#6 Honey Road

These nomadic bee-keepers keep their hives moving around the blossoming flowers and orchards in Eastern Europe and the Asian Steppes. Mostly supplying the street and roadside markets of Ukraine and Russia, they are oblivious to warring tensions, but lately, most of the younger generation have moved to permanent jobs in the cities. This means the stalls and trucks are manned by the elderly and very young children left in their care, moving harmoniously with the changing seasons and different pastures. It is a happy journey.

Photograph by: Dean Yeadon, Ukraine.

Image credits: Dean Yeadon

#7 Hong Kong Unrest

In 2019, the Hong Kong government proposed an extradition bill that would allow suspected criminals to undergo trial in mainland China.

With Hong Kong residents fearing Beijing’s tightening grip, the proposed bill sparked the worst unrest the city had seen in decades, representing the greatest challenge to the Beijing government since the 1989 student uprisings and subsequent massacre.

Photograph by: Laurel Chor, Hong Kong.

Image credits: Laurel Chor

#8 Children Living In Perpetual Invisibility

In an effort to escape poverty, Filipino children are being lured into the cybersex trade by human traffickers. Cybersex trafficking is a sinister form of modern-day slavery in the Philippines — the live sexual abuse of children streamed via the internet. “Children Living in Perpetual Invisibility" is an awareness campaign created to shed light on children enslaved in the cybersex trade.

The project demonstrates, in real-time, the daily life of rescued Filipino cybersex-trafficked children who live in a long-term shelter where they receive psychological care and learn life skills.

Photograph by: Matilde Simas, Philippines.

Image credits: Matilde Simas

#9 Orangutans On A Thin Vine

The name “orangutan” comes from the Malay word orang (people) and hutan (forest). While the future for many species is uncertain, orangutans in the wild are hanging on by a particularly thin vine.

Their populations have declined significantly over the past hundred years due to habitat destruction in their native Sumatra and Borneo where forests give way to palm oil plantations. If we lose the forest we lose the orangutans.

Photograph by: Mark Edward Harris, Singapore, United States, Indonesia.

Image credits: Mark Edward Harris

#10 Cyprus For Sale

After suffering numerous credit crashes that have crippled their economy, Cyprus adopted the 'Citizenship by investment program', whereby non-EU citizens are invited to invest in prime property and in return receive an EU passport. Due to Cyprus fast-tracking applications, investors' credit histories are not properly checked to lead to money laundering. Other consequences include rising rents, middle-class gentrification, and natural and urban environmental disregard.

In attempt to attract wealth, Cyprus has become a commodity to be bought and sold at the expense of its citizens.

Photograph by: Paul Shiakallis, Cyprus.

Image credits: Paul Shiakallis

#11 Rear Window Quarantine

In Milan, during this Covid-19 lockdown time, balconies, terraces, and roofs have become the only useful places to get our yard time. We took a walk on the roofs transformed into gyms, solariums, libraries where you can meet the words of others through books. Balconies and windows were the escape route, the holiday, the break from a monitor-shaped job. One of the consequences of the pandemic will be to rethink the design of houses, especially as regards the common parts, in order to make cities more resilient. In Italy, the debate, involving architects, physicians, sociologists, has already opened.

Photograph by: Matteo Garzonio, Italy.

Image credits: Matteo Garzonio

#12 Black Lives Matter

Photograph by: Tyler Bensinger, USA.

Image credits: Tyler Bensinger

#13 Headstrong: The Women Of Rural Uganda

This ongoing project about the working women of rural Uganda began in Gulu at a quarry. Nearly all the workers who break large rocks into gravel size pellets are female. They earn 1000 UGX ($0.30) for every jerry can of gravel that they fill. This is an extremely difficult labor and dangerous work.

I placed the women in front of mosquito netting, allowing them to be noticed, appreciated, and valued for their labor and economic contributions. Beatrice Lamwaka, a well-known Ugandan author, is providing the essential African female viewpoint on this project. Theirs are voices that are rarely heard.

Photograph by: Dan Nelken, USA.

Image credits: Dan Nelken

#14 Lost At Sea

The Carteret Islands 90km Northeast of Bougainville, PNG were the first place in the world to require population relocations due to climate change-related issues. At around 1m above the waves, the 7 tiny islands are extremely vulnerable to changes in the sea and the climate. The remaining 1600 people are forced to contemplate relocation to high ground 4 hrs away by boat and many have done so. Some have returned after struggling to adjust, unhappy living away from their home. Every day, more ground is lost. It is unlikely the remaining children will be able to have their own families here.

Photograph by: Darren James, Papua New Guinea.

Image credits: Darren James

#15 Charcoal Black

Portraits of miners at the Pniówek coal mine, 40 km south-west of Katowice, the capital of Silesia. The region contains numerous active coal mines guaranteeing the supply of coal from which Poland draws 80% of its energy. Job security, good salaries, early retirement, and, in many cases, family tradition make this an attractive occupation, but the profession is in an inexorable decline as many of the mines are not profitable. Poland, one of the largest producers of coal in Europe, is also one of the most polluted countries. The EU recommendation of carbon neutrality by 2050 seems out of reach.

Photograph by: Alain Schroeder, Poland.

Image credits: Alain Schroeder

#16 Faces Of The Front-Line

New York City has become the unfortunate coronavirus epicenter of the world. With over 8.4 million residents and 345,000 infected at the time of this writing, I wanted to capture the faces of our city's heroes who keep us all safe. Even at the expense of their own health.

Photograph by: Jeffrey Lau, USA.

Image credits: Jeffrey Lau

#17 Siege Of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

In November Hong Kong students turned the occupied universities into fortresses and blocked the main communication zones, paralyzing the economic life of the city. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University became the place of the biggest fights.

The police began the assault on 17 November morning and the battle lasted until the next day. After the clashes unable to capture the campus, the police began a siege that lasted for 12 days. Students on campus were facing rioting charges of up to 10 years in prison. This led to desperate attempts to escape through the sewer system.

Photograph by: Witold Dobrowolski, Hong Kong.

Image credits: Witold Dobrowolski

#18 Steal Life

Far east. Steel foundries. Life here has a circular flow, in the morning the workers get up early, there are those who prepare meals for the others in turn. The shifts begin and the men are all busy demolishing old shipwrecks coming from all over the world, the metal is cut, worked, melted, and again transformed.

Only the metal here changes life, these men are not, they are always here, every day. Every day until the evening until the siren sounds the arrival of sunset. A human chain made of fatigue, sweat, and hard work. Many curious eyes and friendly smiles. Men to respect.

Photograph by: Nicola Ducati, India.

Image credits: Nicola Ducati

#19 Working For Sticks

As we stay at home on the Covid-19 lockdown, it is easy to slide into self-pity. It is also easy to forget that there are people in this world who do not live in privileged European bubbles. The laborers in Yangon Port have to lug 50-kilo sacks of rice in sweltering heat from boats to trucks to make ends meet. For every sack carried they receive tally sticks for which their reward is a few Kyat.

The lockdowns in Burma deprive millions of their livelihoods. The hardest hit are those who survive just above the poverty line. For them, hunger and poverty will not vanish after the lockdowns are lifted.

Photograph by: Frank Lynch, Myanmar.

Image credits: Frank Lynch

#20 Musician Outside His House During Covid19 Outbreak

Sax player shot outside his house with a balloon to represent isolation. “There is a story in every image; my goal is to tell it like no one else can.”

Photograph by: Fadi Acra, USA.

Image credits: Fadi Acra

#21 In The Shadow Of Corona

Unprecedented times demand an unprecedented response. As a film-based photographer, I’m compelled to make this new work by any means necessary.

Photograph by: David Wolf, USA.

Image credits: David Wolf

#22 A Meal For Everyone

Gandini Primary School near the village of Makobeni in Kenya. This school operates a non-profit organization (Watoto Kenya Onlus) to provide and guarantee a safe meal every day for all 500 children attending school. The moment of the meal in these places is a fantastic moment of joy and aggregation. But the most important thing is that this meal, for many, is the only meal of the day.

Also, for this reason, many families make enormous sacrifices to send children to school, this way they can eat. I miss their smiles so much.

Photograph by: Fabio Marcato, Kenya.

Image credits: Fabio Marcato

#23 Blind Spot

Refugee camp in the area of Malakasa, Greece. It was quarantined twice. The approximately 2,500 refugees, living in the camp, are at risk from coronavirus, as well as from the terrible shortages of food, medicine, and other basic necessities.

Photograph by: Orestis Ilias, Greece.

Image credits: Orestis Ilias

#24 Intime

INTIME is an almost 100-year-old pub situated in the heart of Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, Denmark. Intime is recognized for its disarmingly friendly atmosphere, which celebrates the free queer spirit and musicality.

Photograph by: Magnus Cederlund, Denmark.

Image credits: Magnus Cederlund

#25 Hong Kong Summer On Fire

Ever since the Hong Kong Government tried to pass the Extradition Bill, which would enable the PRC Government to lawfully arrest people in Hong Kong who violate the law in China upon the approval of the Hong Kong Chief Executive, the fear and anger of Hong Kong people to the government has been ignited.

Photograph by: Tsz Fung Cheng, Hong Kong.

Image credits: Tsz Fung Cheng

#26 The Damned Of The Earth

Under a burning sun and feet in the mud, for hours, we see them working far in the rice fields. With heat and light, you can hardly see their silhouettes. Their faces and bodies are completely covered. One might think they have no identity. Who are they? How old are they, what is their story? Impossible to know who is under the hood. Let’s go out to meet those damned of the earth, who sacrifice themselves, like angels, to offer us rice in our plates. Suphan Buri Province, Thailand.

Photograph by: Julien De Wilde, Belgique.

Image credits: Julien De Wilde

#27 The Siege Of PolyU

What began in June 2019 as peaceful marches against a now-withdrawn extradition bill to mainland China has since morphed into a full-blown anti-government movement with "five key demands", transforming Hong Kong into an urban battleground between anti-government protestors and the city’s police force.

After 6 months of clashes and protests, November 2019 saw the Hong Kong Polytechnic University ("PolyU") become a battleground between anti-government protestors and the riot police who encircled them. After 12 days, the siege of PolyU was finally lifted - with nary a protestor left on campus.

Photograp by: Bing Guan, Hong Kong.

Image credits: Bing Guan

#28 Mexico 43 Missing Students

Iguala, Mexico. 43 students that dreamed to become rural teachers were organizing to protest for better schooling conditions in 2016. Inexplicably, they were abducted by the police, the army or the local drogue mafia, or by all of them, and disappeared since then. Agony for the parents and relatives, anger for the Mexican society and repeated claims for human rights activists and those that seek justice have remained unheard.

Photograh by: Eduardo Lopez Moreno, Mexico.

Image credits: Eduardo Lopez Moreno

#29 Cameroon: The Anglophone War

The Anglophone Crisis is a conflict in the South-West region of Cameroon, otherwise known as the 'Ambazonia War'. In September 2017, separatists in the Anglophone territories declared the independence of Ambazonia and began fighting against the Government of Cameroon. Starting as a low-scale insurgency during 2018, the conflict spread to most parts of the Anglophone regions and intensified. As of late 2019, the war has killed approximately 3,000 civilians and displaced more than half a million people.

Photograph by: Giles Clarke, Cameroon.

Image credits: Giles Clarke

#30 Stupa

An ‘ice stupa’ is an artificial glacier that stores waste stream waters so that the water can be used at a later date when supplies are scarce. It has been cleverly devised and is used as a solution to the water crisis faced by local farmers in Kashmir, northern India.

The conical tower shape ensures that the surface exposed to the sun is minimal, so premature melting is avoided. The idea is simple – it needs no pumps or power, instead of relying on the physics of water and uses the otherwise wasteful streamflow water.

Photograph by: Greg White, India.

Image credits: Greg White

#31 Pandemic Opera

The sound of silence, so to speak. This is what an opera house devoid of personnel, devoid of singers, orchestra musicians, and an attending audience, "sounds" and looks like during these Covid-19 days. I had the chance to take pictures in the Wuppertal Opera, home for instance to the famous Pina Bausch Dance Company. I feel that these pictures stand "pars pro toto" for all the theaters and opera houses around the world that had to at least temporarily shut down because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I am a professional musician myself, so this series is really close to my heart.

Photograph by: Daniel Haeker, Germany.

Image credits: Daniel Haeker

#32 Japanese Aquariums

Remarkably, of the estimated 400 admission-charging aquariums in the world, 150 are located in Japan. Moreover, fish tanks are ubiquitous—at restaurants, hotels, and even in random roadside displays. Given the country’s aging demographics it is hard to imagine this as sustainable, even as aquariums attempt to shift their raison d’être toward conservation, animal rescue, and education.

I am interested in the emotions expressed both by the spectators and the animals. At times, one is left to wonder who is observing whom? And in light of the Covid-19 era, what does a spectator-less aquarium do?

Photograph by: George Nobechi, Japan.

Image credits: George Nobechi

#33 The Last Train From Bishwa Ijtema

Bangladesh, and particularly Dhaka, is well-known for overcrowded commuting trains. As a result, people claim any perch they can on top and all around the train cars. But this practice is never as intense as, during the Bishwa Ijtema, a three-day annual gathering of Muslims held in Tongi, a small town by the banks of the River Turag, in the outskirts of Dhaka.

Photograph by: France Leclerc, Bangladesh.

Image credits: France Leclerc

#34 For Actually The Earth Had No Roads To Begin With

The Anti-Extradition Bill Movement has forever changed Hong Kong. The smell of tear gas becomes familiar. People saw their daily lives being affected, yet the fallout of the protest has spread to our daily lives. Although the mental and physical trauma in the movement is unprecedented, Hongkongers are determined to remain as the beacon of light in the midst of narrowing freedom and civic space.

The aspiration of safeguarding the culture and core values that constitute the identity of “Hongkonger” stay staunch, even though the path is not easy. But when many pass one way, a road is made.

Photograph by: Bertha Wang, Hong Kong.

Image credits: Bertha Wang

#35 Hong Kong Protest

Hong Kong's protests started in June 2019 against plans to allow extradition to mainland China, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, clashes between police and activists have become increasingly violent.

Photograph by: Wei Fu, China.

Image credits: Wei Fu

#36 The Children Of Iran's Gypsies: A Lost Childhood

Traveling to the desert, the photographer stumbled upon a camp of gypsies on their way from Sistan to find low paid work in Khorasan. Opposite to traditional Iranian nomads, these people are characterized by their poverty, toughness and at times immoral demeanor. The photos capture the living conditions of the many children in this camp. Small work-worn hands, ragged shoes, and plastic patches on tents tell the story of their lost childhood.

Photograph by: Basim Ghomorlou, Iran.

Image credits: Basim Ghomorlou

#37 62 Days In Isolation

Since the first day of the lockdown - due to the Covid-19 pandemic - I started photographing my daughters around the house. From March 18 until May 18, 2020, I captured their daily routines. For my daughters, like for many young people, social contact with their peers is very important at their age. The restriction on seeing friends was very difficult for both of them. Schools and universities were closed. My eldest daughter missed studying in the library. My youngest daughter spent a lot of time on her mobile phone. They often felt bored or lonely.

Photograph by: Sigrid Debusschere, Belgium.

Image credits: Sigrid Debusschere

#38 Eating Cannons

Eating cannons (cannons) is a common ritual ceremony in Taiwanese religious festivals. Followers set a lot of firecrackers under God's palanquin to express their own gratitude to worship blessing. People believe that more firecrackers could bring with much luckier than ever.

Photograph by: Simon Lee, Taiwan.

Image credits: Simon Lee

#39 Invisible Faces Of Malaria

My work aimed to create awareness of malaria which is important for the elimination of the disease. Public Engagement is important to bring awareness of our work and I hope my work will be a bridge between science and art and bridging cultures and perceptions of diseases in the Asia Pacific.

Photograph by: Pearl Gan, Cambodia.

Image credits: Pearl Gan

#40 La Caravana Del Diablo

In January of 2020, fleeing violence and poor economic conditions, Hondurans organized a massive migrant caravan that traveled through Guatemala into Mexico. After traveling for 8 days the caravan crossed the Suchiate River into Mexico and were stopped and tear-gassed by the recently established Guardia Nacional composed of former Federal, Military, and Naval Police.

Photograph by: Ada Trillo, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico.

Image credits: Ada Trillo

#41 Reflection On Isolation

Covid-19 came. Life changed. Probably irrevocably. Couldn’t stand around helpless. I decided to document the new daily existence of millions. I advertised my idea on social media and through my local paper in West London. The response was enormous. We made contact, arranged details of location, clothing, face-mask, and set a date and time; guaranteed no physical contact.

Every three days or so for the past several weeks I have photographed people at home in self-isolation during the evening twilight. Imprisoned in their home, they gaze forlornly out of their window onto a desolate world outside.

Photograph by: Julia Fullerton-Batten, United Kingdom.

Image credits: Julia Fullerton-Batten

#42 Revolution Of Underground

In October 2019, Iraqis rose to make an outcry. An uprising. A revolution. A never seen before the roar of hope, courage, social and ethnic unity flooded into the streets calling for a new Iraq. Since Iraqi’s have been left alone crying.

Dying while trying fighting for their rights and demands to their leaders while the world has been silently watching the government’s deadly campaign of systematic violence, kidnappings, and killings in a battlefield resembling a war zone with now more than 500 youths and activists killed, more than 30.000 wounded and an unknown number kidnapped.

Photograph by: Thea Pedersen, Iraq.

Image credits: Thea Pedersen

#43 My Quarantine In Bergamo

Silvia Alessi lives in Bergamo, one of the most affected cities in the world by the Coronavirus epidemic. She owns a hairdressing salon, since 8 March 2020 (the lockdown day in Italy) she had to close my business for the first time in my life. They all barricaded themselves at home overnight, while people were dying in hospitals.

The uncertainty about tomorrow, the fear about today, the surreal situation: locked at home alone, she wanted to document all these new feelings through photos. These shots show all of her feelings: loneliness, weakness, uncertainty, anxiety.

Photograph by: Silvia Alessi, Italy.

Image credits: Silvia Alessi

#44 Covid 19 And The Speakers' Corner

Stay home has been the word of the day for the past two months. Stay home, Noa sings from her 3rd-floor pulpit. Learn to make it your safe haven. What else can Home mean? Observing from my veranda. The cobbler puffing in his shop. The neighbors. The pedestrians.

Let your actions speak for yourself. Make the best of this opportunity and be the better version of yourself. We are all, all over the planet, experiencing a common affliction. It's not "our neighbor's war”. Fill your heart with joy because you matter! Be the stork that observes. Stay home!

Photograph by: Gonçalo Cunha De Sá, Portugal.

Image credits: Gonçalo Cunha De Sá

#45 Generation Of War

They are too young and unconscious to know. Still unaware of ideologies, religion, politics, and human beliefs. They have already lost loved ones, homes, a leg, and a safe childhood but will follow the path and will of their grownups blindly. Whatever side of the frontline, whether born by jihadists in the former Caliphate, brought up amidst freedom fighters in Rojava, living on either side of the fence of the Al-Hol Camp or bound to a hospital bed, they all have one thing in common: They are children born into and shaped by war in Syria facing a dim and unknown future.

Photograph by: Thea Pedersen, Syria.

Image credits: Thea Pedersen

#46 People Of The Poppy Fields

Afghanistan produces roughly 90% of the world’s opium. The drug is made from the resin of opium poppies, which is further processed to make heroin. In Afghanistan’s impoverished Kandahar province, many farmers use a portion of their land to grow poppies, saying it’s the only crop that generates enough money to support their families. This series depicts life on several Kandahar poppy farms in the runup to 2019’s harvest. The beauty of the fields and the farmers’ joy at the healthy plants—a result of ideal weather—contrast with the devastation the poppies cause around the world.

Photograph by: Phillip Walter Wellman, Afghanistan.

Image credits: Phillip Walter Wellman

#47 Vancouver Covid

These images were shot on the streets of Vancouver's infamous DTES. The Downtown Eastside is the most vulnerable community in Vancouver. These streets and alleys are occupied by homeless and marginalized people, affected by drug addiction and mental health issues. When Covid 19 Shelter in Place and social distancing order was issued I was concerned about how the city would implement these new regulations within this at-risk community. I was sure that there would be cluster outbreaks and it would be a disaster with many lives lost. However, people were not dying of Covid but of an opioid overdose.

Photograph by: Dina Goldstein, Canada.

Image credits: Dina Goldstein

#48 Agents Of Positive Change: The Youth Of Rwanda

Born during the Genocide era, Rwandan’s youth speak of their aspirations, their hope for peace in the aftermath of a brutal conflict that fractured their nation. They are the generation that wants to be known as Rwandans, eliminating historical tribal labels of Hutu and Tutsi.

They want their legacy to be known as the peace brokers. The youth have come together, united in purpose – much of their commitment to reconciliation is rooted in the idea that without peace, there is no future. Peace is everything, the steel platform to construct prosperity and harmony.

Photograph by: Carol Allen-Storey, Rwanda.

Image credits: Carol Allen-Storey

#49 Matatu Metropolis

They are colorful, loud, and flashy - the Matatus of Nairobi. In Kenya's capital these pimped, private buses are the main means of transport. The Matatus transport most commuters in this vast city. They are so numerous that they contribute significantly to the daily traffic collapse in Nairobi.

Between 20,000 and 40,000 graffiti-covered Matatus compete for the attention of the people on the streets. In order to make the old buses more attractive, the owners of the Matatus pimp the exteriors, interiors, and motors of the Matatus in order to make every single bus is a roaring work of art.

Photograph by: Christian Bobst, Kenya.

Image credits: Christian Bobst

#50 Absent

As much as we are in this world and of this world, none of us escapes the momentary or pervasive feeling of alienation, loneliness; the realization that all will pass, and that we do not know where we are going. And yet, simultaneously, we are capable of feeling immense joy in belonging here on Earth and in appreciating all the worldly gifts.coming from the world of ours gives us.

Photograph by: Helena Lukas, Italy.

Image credits: Helena Lukas

#51 Brighton In The Corona Age

Brighton, a city on the South East coast of England, is righteously called ‘London by the Sea’, as it is buzzing with life, diversity, and color. Brighton center with its famous North Laines, is usually a very busy place, especially on Saturdays, when most of these photographs were taken.

During the coronavirus lockdown, these streets have been transformed into nonplaces of transitional nature where people walk through only when necessary, raising questions about the age we live in and that nothing is given and permanent despite the advancements of technology and medicine.

Photograph by: Eva Kalpadaki, United Kingdom.

Image credits: Eva Kalpadaki

#52 Psychiatric Hospital For Holocaust Survivors

The hostel for Holocaust Survivors at Sha`ar Menashe Psychiatric Hospital is home to dozens of Holocaust survivors. And over the years it has been one for many more. Those who spent most of their lives in psychiatric institutions, and some who became somewhat involved in society until their mental health deteriorated, and they found themselves in need of hospitalization.

Whoever arrives here will remain for the rest of his life. In a place where loneliness, sadness, and silence are always present, they struggle day after day as they awaken from nightmares, hear voices and sink into depression.

Photograph by: Gili Yaari, Israel.

Image credits: Gili Yaari

#53 The End Of Fancy Shopping

My project is a visual story of "The End of Fancy Shopping," as I call it. Due to NYC lock-down, most stores closed or went out of business. I focused on the fashion industry meltdown during the quarantine. Most of the boutiques removed their products and left stores empty with the lights on, thus creating this new appearance of the clean geometry of empty shelves and total abandonment at the same time.

Nobody knew what's next... And next was public unrest, protest marches, and looting due to the racial tensions after police in Minneapolis savagely killed George Floyd.

Photograph by: Vytenis Jankunas, USA.

Image credits: Vytenis Jankunas

#54 If Walls Could Speak

The "Remain in Mexico" policy: a dangerous waiting game for those families seeking asylum. The individuals and families in these photographs have experienced unthinkable traumas and faced impossible decisions.

Photo by Ada Trillo, Mexico.

Image credits: Ada Trillo

#55 "My Americana" Today

A long-term photography essay. Its goal: create a contemporary view of the people, places, or happenings that depict The United States of America. What defines this country? Patriotism, free speech, and choices of religious practices all are undercurrents in this essay. A record of the political process is vital, with the chasm of opposing doctrine bordering on fanaticism, visual documentation on the issue is vitally important to the final collection.

The images here deal with race, political upheaval, social separation, underlying racism & hopelessness in the USA today.

Photograph by: Joseph (Joe) Patronite, USA.

Image credits: Joseph (Joe) Patronite

#56 Empty Chair

During the decade long Maoist insurgency in Nepal, over 17,000 people were killed on both sides, and approximately 1,300 people were “disappeared” during the conflict.

Photograph by: Guligo Jia, Nepal.

Image credits: Guligo Jia

#57 Those Who Are The Covid-19 Left Behind

For several months now History has been facing a pandemic. But on the sidelines of this history with a capital “H” there are also other stories to tell. Like here, in this Care and Rehabilitation Center where these patients like no other being afflicted by other pathologies called co-morbidities, cannot be candidates to integrate an intensive care unit in the event of COVID-19 acute symptoms development.

Already overloaded these units will be allocated to younger and healthier people with better chances of recovery. Elderly patients are still the medical system's left behind.

Photograph by: Denis Palanque, France.

Image credits: Denis Palanque

#58 Avengers Of NYC

I live 5 minutes away from hospitals, and I hear the sirens 24/7. In the beginning, I would get worried every time I hear the sirens. Another COVID patient! Now, the sirens serve as a reminder of the people who risk their lives for the sake of the people of New York City.

Photograph by: Jose Razon, USA.

Image credits: Jose Razon

#59 "Anima-L" We Change The System And The System Changed Us

Humans are responsible for the destruction of our own ecosystem, we have depleted it. We are responsible for climate change that affects biodiversity. Intensive farming is one of the major causes of environmental pollution and the damage caused affects not only on the environment but also on animals and human health.

The covid19 pandemic that we are experiencing today may depend on it. We change the system and the system changed us.

Photograph by: Carla Sutera Sardo, Italy.

Image credits: Carla Sutera Sardo

#60 Fight For The God Of War

This is the Story from the Tenganan Village at Bali. The makare-kare or pandan fight to honor the god of war "Indra". They use a 20-30cm leaf from the pandanus as a "Sword". It is an old tradition and is a part of the full moon ceremony. Many celebrations and ceremonies are around the day of the fight and the days before and after. It was a great time to stay at Tenganan with very friendly villagers and pleasant encounters.

Photograph by: Michael Paramonti, Bali.

Image credits: Michael Paramonti

#61 Across The River's Flow

Saxons are a community with German roots. Since XI century, together with Hungarians and Romanians, they’ve been living in the green heart of Romania. From this very land, a major migration is now taking place which marks the decline of centuries of history.

After the 2nd World War and Ceaușescu communist government, people of this community were forced to abandon their homes. Some wanted an ethnically homogeneous Romania. In 1930 there were 745,421 Saxons in Romania, in the last census there were 27,019. Saxons are disappearing and their culture, their tongue, and traditions along with them.

Photograph by: Davide Bertuccio, Romania, Germany

Image credits: Davide Bertuccio

#62 Foreign Landscape

Wars, poverty, climate change continue to drive people out of their homes, communities, countries, to the unknown. They join millions already on the move, constantly, restlessly, occupying spaces on the margins of the First World. This new presence is transforming an environment inhabited and organized long ago, even if it's just for a day, a week, a month, as they keep moving through the landscape scarred by walls and fences, running, hiding, and running again.

Contemporary nomads with no sense of arrival, their fate echoes the age-old story of constant movement in today's liquid global society.

Photograph by: Dawid Zielinski, Greece.

Image credits: Dawid Zielinski

#63 Mmmmy Corona

We all were very much affected by the pandemic that hit our civilization. In my pictures, I show how the threat of the coronavirus changed my view on everyday life in and around Mechelen, Belgium. The photographs are never too explicit. They leave room for interpretation, welcoming beauty and surprise, sadness with a smile.

Photograph by: David Legreve, Belgium.

Image credits: David Legreve

#64 Silent Giants

During two years of photographing stadiums in various cities of the world, the artist seeks to create a new experience and provoke the spectator to envision the power of silence echoing through the empty stadium, silent shouts, pulsating life, transforming the immaterial into the material through the concrete and vice-versa, in a constant dialogue between the physical and the spiritual.

The images try to make time stop, giving back to the spectator all of the emotions in a stadium on the day of a game. Would all this emptiness and commotion of the past be also the beginning of the future?

Photograph by: Juliana Sícoli,

Image credits: Juliana Sícoli

#65 Dia De Muertos

The confluence of history. The succession of layers that stack traditions, values, and beliefs. The festival of life that mocks death. The rituals that take the street and make it their own. The fancy dresses, colors, flowers, and costumes that dance to celebrate the day of a yesterday gone.

The offerings that celebrate the perpetual transit of the dead between light and dark on the way to paradise. One day journey through a walk in the main avenue of the capital city, where trajectories, paths, and destinations intermingle. A perpetual and tireless rebirth.

Photograph by: Eduardo Lopez Moreno, Mexico.

Image credits: Eduardo Lopez Moreno

#66 Jamestown

Jamestown is one of the oldest districts of the city of Accra. In this immense space bordering the sea, a vast community of fishermen live and work, fishing being their main source of survival. The place, built from a cluster of hundreds of informal slum-like habituations, is a microcosm of life where one is only able to enter with the right people.

Photograph by: Joao Miguel Barros, Ghana.

Image credits: Joao Miguel Barros

#67 Upper East Side Story

The Upper East Side of Manhattan is considered New York City’s most affluent neighborhood. White-glove buildings, designer boutiques, Museum Mile and ladies who lunch are some of the images associated with UES. The area covers 59th to 96th street from the East River to Central Park cut by avenues such as Park and Fifth.

Most people have lived here for years and would not dream of leaving. When asked how they wanted to be photographed, the responses were astonishing: naked, dressed like a maharaja, in bed, etc.

Photographer: Alain Schroeder, USA.

Image credits: Alain Schroeder

#68 Ni Rei No Por

Nine leaders of the Catalan separatist movement were jailed for sedition and misuse of public funds for their role in a failed 2017 declaration of independence. Catalonia's drive for independence plunged Spain into a big political crisis.

People, driven by "youths" took the streets in Barcelona seeking to free all political prisoners and met with thousands of riot police sent from Madrid.

Photograph by: Gian Marco Benedetto, Spain.

Image credits: Gian Marco Benedetto

#69 Decline And Fall Of The Empire

The series of the fall of the empire has been a subject that I have worked with for a long time. This is not only a problem in New York but a problem in the world. Every government has to obligation to its citizens and inequality should not exist. Everyone has a right to food and shelter and not guns and war.

Photograph by: Sharon Stepman, USA.

Image credits: Sharon Stepman

#70 Alone In The Time Of Coronavirus

In the days of difficult discovery about Covid 19, the world hid - at least it hid where I was. The results were startlingly sublime and there was a sense of uneasy quietness.

Photograph by: Daniel Levine, USA.

Image credits: Daniel Levine

#71 Important Things In Life

A leprosy village at the Atlantic coast in West Africa. Here leprosy belongs to everyday life. But the disease is not excluded. The patients are living together with their families. Most of them lose fingers and toes due to the disease and go blind at a later stage. These people live at the base of life. They try every day to cope with the present and to find a way into the future.

In the beginning, it was like exploring the past. Soon, however, the courage and the warmth of the people lead you on a journey that brings the important things in our life back into consciousness.

Photograph by: Franz Messenbaeck, Senegal.

Image credits: Franz Messenbaeck

#72 Portrait Of Hong Kong: A Search For Identity

What is Hong Kong and what's it mean to be a Hong Konger? By photographing a cross-section of society and combining participants' text with their portraits I contribute to that subject. However once the mass movement for human rights began in June it began to feel urgent, like a memorial to Hong Kong and her people as our culture and home are smothered under the heavy hand of authoritarian rule.

It will be permanently altered. What will replace it, no one knows. When I’m photographing activists I’m quietly worrying what will happen to them? I hope these pictures serve as a record of who they are

Photograph By: Todd R. Darling, Hong Kong.

Image credits: Todd R. Darling

#73 The Year Of The Coronavirus

April 2020 in the city of Utica, NY. It's a post-industrial town, that attracts artists to come here to work on ambitious projects at an organization called Sculpture Space (of which I was the founding director) and its become a multicultural hub. a welcoming by refugees from all the worlds' war zones.

The city's weak point is its downtown, which for many years has suffered from aging infrastructure and poor city planning. Plans are currently underway to build a downtown hospital.

Photograph by: Sylvia de Swaan, USA.

Image credits: Sylvia de Swaan

#74 Diakonia

Romania is not only one of the poorest nations in Europe, but it is also an emigration country from which the younger generation is leaving to find work in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. This leaves behind an over-aged society, which in many cases is in need of care, but can often barely afford to pay for medicines, let alone for visits to the doctor and transport costs. This is where the church organization Diakonia steps in, with its nurses driving from the cities to the most remote rural areas to provide people with the most necessary medical assistance, also in the times of Covid-19.

Photograph by: Christian Bobst Bobst, Romania.

Image credits: Christian Bobst Bobst

#75 The End Of The Exodus - Inferno Moria

The refugee camp of Moria, sits on the hill in Lesbo island, overlooking the Turkish coast. This is where the dream dies. The camp is a paradox of human rights praised by a democratic world.

The dream disappears in the bodies of 20 thousand people. They live in appalling conditions without the most basic rights, in the cold, in a field designed for 2500, with insufficient sanitation that beggars belief. Almost every night there are fights. The protests for these conditions cease with the violent gas firing by police against all - no-one is spared. The end of an exodus, the end of Europe.

Photograph by: Stefano Stranges, Italy.

Image credits: Stefano Stranges

#76 Generosity, Grief, And The Black Anaconda: Inside The World's Biggest Annual Pilgrimage

This photographic series documents the world’s largest annual pilgrimage: Arba’een. An event that commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who was killed by Yazīd on the 10th day of the month of Muharram.

Millions move towards a small city in central Iraq in late October each year – to mourn a man who died almost 1,400 years ago.

Photograph by: Jonny Pickup, Iraq.

Image credits: Jonny Pickup

#77 Roma Sparita

Walking through Rome, during the lockdown, the city seemed suspended. the atmosphere was surreal, time stopped and only birdsong was heard.

Photograph by: Flaminia Santoro, Italy.

Image credits: Flaminia Santoro

#78 Glendora: Sing About Me

Glendora: Sing About Me is a documentary about poverty and memory. Glendora, pop. 160, has become a memory desert. The transmission of individual and collective memories seems to have withered under duress.

Research on poverty trauma intensified by racial bias show that when brain capacity is used up on survival, there isn’t much bandwidth for anything else. Mississippi is the poorest state in the U.S. and one of its most racially inequitable. There is no documentation of these communities looked over because of their social and economic status. This heritage will soon be lost to time.

Photograph by: Isabelle Armand

Image credits: Isabelle Armand

#79 Fire & Dreams

Dhaka is one of the most densely populated and unplanned cities in the world. Due to lack of supervision of authority greedy developers are building constructions without proper guidelines and violating rules and regulations including fire protection law. Because of unplanned construction, houses, shopping malls, slums, garment/ textile factories no place is safe. Every year fire is costing valuable lives of many and people are losing all their belongings.

According to available fire service data, at least 1970 people were killed in around 200,000 fires across the country in the last decade.

Photograph by: Mohammad Fahim Ahamed Riyad, Bangladesh.

Image credits: Mohammad Fahim Ahamed Riyad

#80 Lucubrations

This project captures the emotions caused by the anomaly widely known as COVID19 and the resulting quarantine. It further provides a glimpse into the life of the creator, resulting in a story that is both reportage and introspection that come together in a series of metaphorical and evocative images.

Photograph by: Filippo Esmaily, Luxembourg.

Image credits: Filippo Esmaily

#81 Neckarstadt In Times Of Covid-19

The Corona pandemic brought public and private life to a standstill within a few days. Much of what we took for granted has been suspended indefinitely. This series was created from March 16 – 20 in my district Neckarstadt. Two days before, all events were canceled and all cultural institutions, restaurants, and bars were successively closed. People were asked by the authorities to maintain "social distance". Initially as an appeal, then through concrete measures.

Photograph by: Arthur Bauer, Germany.

Image credits: Arthur Bauer

#82 Covid-19

Getting used to the new masked world. The graduate relief in the restrictions, Tel Aviv Israel.

Photograph by: Orna Naor, Israel.

Image credits: Orna Naor

#83 Christians In China

Each week, at least 100,000 Christians come together to pray in the official Catholic and Protestant Churches in China. Christianity is fast growing in China. Though often portrayed wrongly as an oppressed people, the reality is that Christians all over China are freely practicing their faith in earnest.

I have visited many churches throughout China over a five year period, and have documented the faith there, perhaps, one of the most dynamic in the world today. People pray, read the Bible, carry out social work to benefit society, go on pilgrimages, and observe their rites and feasts.

Photograph by: Jimmy Lam, China.

Image credits: Jimmy Lam

#84 The First Month In Isolation

These are tense times, but there have been others in the trajectory of my life. I don’t mind being alone, but being in voluntary isolation has brought back memories, and has also led me to explore areas of my house that I rarely go to, like my attic - an ill-kept space that could do with a sweeping and a view from the window that I’d never seen in that way before. It also brought to mind the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, the hidden attic where she wrote her diary and spent the last years of her young life.

Photograph by: Sylvia de Swaan, USA.

Image credits: Sylvia de Swaan

#85 Living History

How do we deal with our dark past? Who decides what our national history is? To whom do we listen, and to whom do we not? They are questions many countries are struggling with today. Living History shows how different groups of Americans, each armed with their own version of the past, deal with the history of the American Civil War and the legacy of slavery through re-enactment.

Photograph by: Ruben Hamelink, USA.

Image credits: Ruben Hamelink

#86 A Distant Farewell

A family that lost their eldest in a locked-down nursing home in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic attends a distanced funeral during a severe rain and hail storm. During the outbreak, family members of seniors citizens are prohibited from visiting the nursing home or providing additional care, that in some cases, could prevent the death of a loved one. At least 7,300 people living in long-term care have died in the COVID-19 outbreak, although that number is likely far higher as less than half of states are reporting deaths from care facilities such as these.

Photograph by: Jeffrey Lau, USA.

Image credits: Jeffrey Lau

#87 Rising To The Call

Rising to the Call highlights the selfless efforts and resilience of residents, businesses, and organizations of New Jersey, the second hardest-hit state in the US. By photographing a wide variety of subjects, this project will reflect the best of America by showing the depth of community engagement, civic duty, and inspiring actions within one state.

The goal is to create a comprehensive photo essay that will show the scope of engagement and commitment to support one another in this unprecedented crisis.

Photograph by: Ed Kashi, USA.

Image credits: Ed Kashi

#88 Power

Humboldt Park Unity For Black Lives Matter, Chicago. Part of the massive and sweeping outcry in the US against systemic racial inequality and police brutality.

Photograph by: Demayne Murphy, USA.

Image credits: Demayne Murphy