World Press Photo organizes the world’s largest and most prestigious annual photography competition. After the contest, the winning images are showcased in a traveling exhibition viewed by over one million people across 40 countries. It is an independent non-profit organization, founded in 1955 by the Dutch Association of Photojournalists, with its headquarters based in Amsterdam. It remains one of the most significant and exciting awards in the field of photography.

In today’s fast-paced world, everything is quickly replaced by innovation and improvement, leaving little time to reflect on last year’s highlights. However, I want to take a moment to focus on the winner of the 2016 World Press Photo: especially with the 2017 winners being announced next month!

I want to highlight the relevance of this exhibition in this blog. As we all know, many people are fleeing the situations in their home countries. Can we truly imagine what that feels like? I don’t think so. Here in the Netherlands, we often face what could be called a luxury problem, struggling with our own identity. That’s why it’s important that organizations like World Press Photo use powerful, often provocative imagery to help us better understand how the world really works.

Last year, I visited the exhibition at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and was deeply moved by the images I saw (see the photos I took there in this blog). Walking through the exhibition, you become increasingly aware of how far removed we are from so much daily suffering. You can almost see and feel the anguish in the images of displaced or drowned refugees, people fleeing at great risk to their own lives and the lives of many others. It was no surprise, then, that the winning photo was taken by Warren Richardson, depicting a refugee.

Who is Warren Richardson?

The 2016 World Press Photo winner is a freelance photojournalist based in Eastern Europe. Born in 1968, the Australian is a self-taught photographer who has specialized in long-term projects focusing on both human and environmental issues.

While working at the Serbian-Hungarian border in 2015, Richardson was part of a group of journalists documenting the refugee crisis. His award-winning World Press Photo entry, titled “Crossing the Border,” comes from this series. Over the course of five days at the Serbia-Hungary border, he witnessed approximately 20,000 people crossing. During that time, a group of Syrians hid under apple trees on the Serbian side of the border. Among them were engineers who knew exactly where and when to cross, planning their movements strategically to reunite as many friends and family members as possible in Hungary. Richardson’s images of this crossing became iconic.

His next project is a complete change of pace: he plans to walk the Arctic Circle. Concerned about the lasting effects of human-caused climate change, he lives by the inspiring mantra:

‘We have not inherited the land from our fathers, we have borrowed it from our children.’

A fun fact I like is that Warren actually walked all the way from Hungary to Amsterdam for his visit to the World Press Photo exhibition. You can see and read about his journey on his Twitter account, where he regularly shares insights from his international work as a photographer. I’m really curious to see what his next long-term project on climate change will bring!

Do you think Warren was a deserving winner in 2016? I’d love to hear your thoughts!