“There is more that unites us than sets us apart.”
The motto of the Portrait of Humanity Award is as up-to-date as ever. In times where all over the world distinctions between US and THE OTHERS, boundaries and fears of differences have become a number 1 topic, we really need more of such projects as the “Portrait of Humanity”. Showing that despite all differences there’s also a lot of things uniting human-beings, no matter where they come from, and that there’s a lot where they do not differ from one another is the goal of this award. Highlighting shared values and experiences, creating a portrait of mankind which focuses on mutual aspects and not on differences. To me this is a really brilliant idea and mission.
Portrait of Humanity is a new global initiative by 1854 Media, editor of the British Journal of Photography, in collaboration with Magnum Photos. The team behind Portrait of Humanity describes the award on their website as an “international photography award which aims at uniting our Global Community”.
The pictures submitted will be shown all around the world and evaluated by a jury consisting of international professionals in photography. These are Magnum photographers Alessandra Sanguinetti, Newsha Tavakolian and Jacob Aue Sobol, and apart from Magnum Rocky Liang, Simon Brainbridge and Xixi Zheng. You can find more details about the jury here.
Everyone can participate, no matter if professional or amateur photographer. The organizers emphasize that they’re primarily interested in getting an insight into the lives of people around the world through the photographs. The subjects can be about anything. Big moments, small moments, loud moments, quiet moments, joy, grief, everyday life, something special, no matter what’s been captured in the picture, anything can be submitted. Besides the worldwide publicity and the photo book with all the favorites, which will be published at the end of the contest, the three submissions selected by the jury can be happy about a prize of altogether 10,000 dollars. This scholarship should enable the winners to create projects supporting the interpretations of a global community as shown in the photos.
Submissions will be accepted until 11 December 2018. You can participate HERE.
What do you think about this idea?