Photo: © Asghar Khamseh, Iran, Photographer of the Year, 2016 Sony World Photography Awards | From the series: Fire of Hatred
Iranian photographer Asghar Khamseh was named the winner of the coveted L’Iris d’Or and received the title Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year. The announcement was made at the gala awards ceremony in London.
The winning work Fire of Hatred was selected from the fourteen Professional category winners. It is a series of portraits about the social consequences of violent acid attacks in Iran. Khamseh received $25,000 and Sony camera equipment.
“Series Description: The violent act of acid throwing is primarily against women and children. These attacks are committed with the intent to disfigure, maim and destroy the social life and future of the victim. The motivation to commit this type of violence is cultural destitution, intolerance and happens in situations such as family conflicts, rejected marriage proposal, revenge and divorce requests. In addition physical and psychological damages, victims are faced with the experience of social stigma, blame and social unpleasant tags.”
The Sony World Photography Awards Open Photographer of the Year title went to Kei Nomiyama for the image ‘Enchanted Bamboo Forest.’ The photographer received $5,000 USD.
Other highlights of the gala ceremony included the announcements of Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award recipients RongRong & inri and Student Focus Award winner Sofia Jern, a Finnish photographer from Novia University of Applied Sciences. A total of 230,103 photographs from 186 countries were submitted to the competition.
All winning and shortlisted photographs from the 2016 awards were exhibited at Somerset House in London from April 22 through May 8, 2016, together with work by RongRong & inri.
More information: www.worldphoto.org
