CAPE TOWN (Sputnik) — The world's best young photographers exhibition has opened in Cape Town as a part of the international tour of the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest, organized by the Rossiya Segodnya International News Agency under the aegis of the Commission of the Russian Federation for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The works will be on display at the Eclectica Contemporary art gallery in Cape Town until November 12 with free entry. The second South African venue for the exhibition will be the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg starting from November 15.
The exhibition photos in Cape Town will be comprised of 50 works depicting moments in people’s lives, as well as major events in big cities and countries. The photos dramatically capture moments in sports and portray colorful ethnic festivities. The most conspicuous shots include photos by Phandulwazi Jikelo (South Africa) and Kevin Midigo (Kenya), which feature political events of their respective countries.
"Winners of the Stenin Contest are top class professionals, and I hope our contest will become a stepping stone for them in their profession and will help to discover many new names in the world of photography in the future. I hope we will receive plenty of applications from young photographers in South Africa and other African countries, and, possibly, see them among the winners in 2018. I am sure that together with the exhibition organizers and our partners in South Africa we managed to support young talented beginners in modern photojournalism and brought our countries closer," the head of the Rossiya Segodnya photo service, Alexander Shtol, said.
According to Phandulwazi Jikelo, the winner of the 2017 Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest, his victory has become a highlight in his career.
"The Stenin Contest meant a lot to me. To have an opportunity to enter the international competition and be a winner in one of the categories was a highlight of my career. To be the first African to win this competition, just changed my life. It is something I have never thought of. What I appreciated more is the exposure it gives to young photographers. I hope it will grow and develop year by year," Jikelo said.
Russia’s Consulate General in Cape Town Roman Ambarov noted that a photojournalist needed to be brave and dedicated, among other characteristics.
"Modern technologies make it possible for us to take millions of photos daily, however, this is not enough to become a photojournalist. Representatives of this profession do not only have talent and work hard, but are also brave and self sacrificing – this is what Russian photojournalist Andrei Stenin was like, and hence the annual contest of Rossiya Segodnya is named after him," he said.
"We hope that the photo contest and exhibitions of the winners’ works will allow to endorse honest and unbiased event coverage and push out unverified and misinforming publications," the consul general said.
Shamiela Tyer, the owner of Eclectica Contemporary, believes that the exhibition will help to draw attention to photography as an art form.
"Eclectica Contemporary and Eclectica Print Gallery are honored once again to host the 3rd Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Context Exhibition. We view this as an opportunity to revive an art form that has long been excluded from the Fine Art realm, and hope to assist in reviving the interest in photo-journalism and, perhaps, the photography as a whole," Tyer said.
The contest’s 2017 international partners include: Al Mayadeen TV, Shanghai United Media Group (SUMG) and ICRC.
General media partners of the contest include the news website Vesti.Ru, Russian state Rossiya-Kultura TV channel, news website KP.ru, news website ZhurDom and the Russian Photo website. International media partners of the contest include Sputnik News Agency and Radio, Askanews news agency, Independent Media holding, Notimex news agency, RT TV channel and news site, The Royal Photographic Society, Shanghai United Media Group (SUMG), Xinhua news agency, ANDES news agency, news agency ANA and Al Mayadeen TV channel. Industry media partners include the Academy of Photography, GeoPhoto agency, Photo-study.ru educational portal, Bleek Magazine, the Union of Journalists of Moscow, the Union of Art Photographers of Russia, Young Journalists information portal and the festivals PhotoVisa and Uglich Photo Parade.
