Photography Exhibition of International Award Competition at Apogee Boutique Hotel till 17th January 2021. Andrei Stenin International Photo Contest

Concludes: 17th Jan 2021
Apogee Boutique Hotel
Curated by: The Viewing Room Art Gallery at St Lorient Art Gallery

The Russian Embassy in South Africa in collaboration with Sputnik Media and Apogee Boutique Hotel
Welcome you to :
THE ANDREI STENIN INTERNATIONAL PHOTO CONTEST
On till 17th January 2021.

The Annual Andrei Stenin International Photo Contest is pleased to present an exhibition featuring this year’s winners. It is Russia’s best platform to discover new photojournalists and develop high standards for documentary photography in Russia and the world. Young photojournalists from 75 countries competed in the contest. In 2020, there are about 5000 submissions selected.
The 2020 winners include young photographers from Russia, the US, France, India, Italy, Spain, Iran, Bangladesh, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Belarus, South Africa, China, and – for the first time – the UK, Austria, Argentina, Brazil and Haiti.
In 2020 the contestants have been judged by the star-studded team including directors and photo editors from the world’s leading photography and news media outlets, as well as international gallerists.

Andrei Stenin, a Russian photojournalist, was born on December 22, 1980, in the town of Pechora.

2003: Started his career as a journalist writing for the Society sector of Rossiyskaya Gazeta; contributed to Gazeta.ru for several years.

2008: Worked as a stringer of Russian and foreign media outlets, including Itar-TASS, RIA Novosti, Kommersant, Reuters, the Associated Press and France Press.

2009: Started working at RIA Novosti as a photojournalist.

2014: Special correspondent of the Rossiya Segodnya Integrated Directorate of Photography.

Stenin received many prizes for his photographs, most of which he made in conflict areas, including two Silver Camera awards.

Andrei Stenin was on a business trip in eastern Ukraine when he went missing on August 5, 2014. According to a source, he may have been detained by the Ukrainian security service. Campaigns in support of Stenin, #FreeAndrew, were held around the world. People in many countries expressed their concern for him, and international public and professional organizations issued statements.

On September 3, 2014, it became known that Andrei Stenin had died in early August. The car he was driving was shelled and burned up on a motorway near Donetsk.

Andrei Stenin was awarded the Order of Courage (posthumously) for bravery and heroism in the performance of his professional duties.

 

Living on the edge
Sumit Sanyal
India
Sumit Sanyal is a Freelance Photographer based in Kolkata, India. He has a Diploma in Photography from National Academy of Photography in Kolkata. His works have been featured in several exhibitions and publications. He currently works as a stringer photographer for Anadolu Agency.

A man collecting water from a hand pump on Mousuni Island while huge tidal waves roll in. A wall that once sheltered the pump from the waves has been destroyed by erosion. Tidal flooding has increased due to the rise in the sea level, causing extensive damage to the island.

 

Ebola: Democratic Republic of the Congo
John Wessels
South Africa

I started as a photojournalist in 2015 in South Africa. Freelanced for AFP throughout southern Africa. In early 2017, I moved to DRC as a stringer for AFP, where I spent 2.5 years. I am currently based in Dakar, Senegal, covering West Africa.

A family member mourns the death of an Ebola victim at a police escorted funeral on May 16, 2019 in Butembo.

Since August 1, 2018, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been dealing with the second largest outbreak of Ebola in the world and is said to be the most complex outbreak to date. There have been over 2,000 deaths so far and over 300 attacks on health facilities, which left four people dead and five injured. Health teams have to work under armed escort, resulting in even more confusion throughout the communities affected by Ebola.

 

Wrangel Island
Yury Smityuk
Russia

Born in 1989 in Khorol, Primorye Territory. In 2006 moved to Vladivostok to study at the Far Eastern State Technical University’s Oil and Gas Institute. Since 2011, has worked as a TASS photojournalist in the Far Eastern Federal District.
Wrangel Island is the northernmost protected island in the Russian Arctic. The Arctic Ocean divides the island almost into two parts at Meridian 180, so it is located in the Western and Eastern hemispheres of our planet. Visiting Wrangel Island Nature Reserve is restricted, but there are about 10 tourist routes in summer and autumn. Tourists can only enter the reserve accompanied by rangers. They monitor the safety of the tourists and animals that live on the island. This photo depicts Pavel Kulemeyev, a researcher at Wrangel Island Nature Reserve, in his “natural habitat.” Pavel graduated from Katanov Khakassia State University and has been working in the reserve since January 2018 – now he is not only a scientist and inspector at the reserve, but also a polar explorer. After all, the conditions on the island are really tough.

 

Talai’s story
Pavel Volkov
Russia

Born in 1987 in Russia. Graduated from Photofaculty of Yuri Galperin, a professional course for photo correspondents. He has won awards in a number of high-profile photography contests. Pavel takes interest in projects related to social problems of Russian society. He is an author of several documentary projects about youth subcultures (football hooligans, fight clubs, street fighters), he also covered the events in Maidan, Crimea, and the south-east of Ukraine as well. His photos have been published in The Yew York Times lens blog, International New York Times, Der Spiegel, Washington Post, Harpers Magazine, Rolling Stones New York.

In his childhood Alexei Talai lost both his legs and arms in an accident. He tried to put out a fire, but there happened to be an old artillery shell in the burning room. It exploded and Alexei was seriously injured. Miraculously, he survived, but ahead of him lay a completely different life — surgery, rehabilitation and self-acceptance. Years later, Alexei became a master of sports in swimming, and a member of the Belarus Paralympic team. He also achieved a black belt in Taekwondo. Sport became a kind of psychological support for Alexei. He now has a big family with four children. The family is a very important part of his life. In addition to sports, Alexei is active in public life. He founded a charitable foundation, and successfully acts as a motivational speaker and coach. Alexei holds several world and European records. In September 2019, he set a world record in the 50m breaststroke at the Paralympic Swimming World Championships in London.