Humanitarian photography stars in an exhibition at the Cervantes Institute in New York

Humanitarian Photography at the Cervantes Institute in New York

The Cervantes Institute in New York hosts an exhibition behind its doors where humanitarian photography is the protagonist: through 41 images, the viewer will be aware of the different realities and conflicts that run through the world, from the invasion of Ukraine to the migratory crisis.

The photographs, which can be viewed for free until November 30, belong to the finalists and the winner of the 26th edition of the Luis Valtueña Humanitarian Photography Award, awarded each year by the Doctors of the World organization.

The award pays tribute to four photographers who were murdered in armed conflicts: Luis Valtueña, Mercedes Navarro, Manuel Madrazo, and Flors Sirera.

"With this award, we exhibit photographic works that denounce a situation, but we also pay a private tribute to four colleagues," the vice president of Doctors of the World in Spain, José Félix Hoyo, a friend of Valtueña since he was 17, told EFE.

A woman, the protagonist of this edition

This edition is "very special" because the winner has been, for the first time, a woman: "Generally, more men than women enter the contest," said Médicos del Mundo.

The winner of first place was the Spanish María Clauss with her work 'Donde no habite el olvido', in which she focuses on historical memory and the oblivion of those who were retaliated against during the Spanish Civil War.

Through a video that accompanies the images, the children of victims of the conflict in Huelva tell the story of their relatives, who were shot or imprisoned between 1936 and 1939.

The Power of the Image: Awareness and Understanding

The viewer can also see the harsh images of 'The Bucha Massacre', where Santi Palacios portrays several Ukrainians murdered by the Russian Armed Forces in March 2022, and the flight of migrants through the jungle in 'The Darien Gap ', in Panama, photographed by Federico Ríos.

Women are the protagonists of the photographs of Sáshenka Gutiérrez, who in "Fuck you cancer" takes a look at her friend Sandra Monroy's breast cancer, and of Nazik Armenakyan's project, 'White, Black, Red', where she denounces the stigma to which women who contract HIV in Armenia are subjected.

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"An image is very powerful because it provides a lot of information and can raise awareness about something that is happening in the world. These photographs help people understand situations that they do not know or are not familiar with," the organization said.