Matthew Abbott wins World Press Photo Story of the Year award

Nawarddeken elder, Conrad Maralngurra, burns grass to protect the Mamadawerre community from late-season wildfires, in Mamadawerre, Arnhem Land, Australia, one of the imagers from Matthew Abbott’s wining portfolio ‘Saving Forests with Fire’, which was named as the winner of the World Press Photo Story of the Year award for 2022. The late-evening fire will die out naturally once the temperature drops and moisture levels rise. © Matthew Abbott, for National Geographic/Panos Pictures

Although based in Sydney, Abbott once lived in West Arnhem Land and was accepted into a local community. He sees sharing the Warddeken rangers’ solution to wildfires important due to the climate crisis and the intensive bushfires Australia has seen in recent years. For tens of thousands of years, Indigenous Australians have strategically used a practice known as cool burning to protect their environment. These fires move slowly, burn only the undergrowth, and remove the build-up of fuel that feeds bigger blazes, preventing larger, more destructive fires from occurring in the hotter, dryer months of the year.

The jury’s comments stated: The story responds to Australia’s devastating forest fires and makes us question what the world would look like if we had listened to ancient knowledge. The body of work is a proactive and pragmatic lesson which does not exoticise the Nawarddeken people, a First Nations group, but rather highlights the crucial value of their knowledge in a comprehensive review. While each image is strong on its own, intentional editing, strong pacing, and the sequencing of images illustrates how culture and the environment are inseparable in indigenous cultures. Furthermore, the story provides a refreshing balance of humans and nature in a way which forwards a perspective of interconnectedness and the role of humans as stewards of the land.

Red dresses hung on crosses along a roadside commemorate children who died at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, an institution created to assimilate Indigenous children,  following the detection of as many as 215 unmarked graves, Kamloops, British Columbia, 19 June 2021. © Amber Bracken, for The New York Times

Another winner announced today is Amber Bracken from Canada who took out the World Press Photo of the Year prize for ‘Kamloops Residential School’ an image that showed red dresses hung on crosses along a roadside to commemorate children who died at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, an institution created to assimilate Indigenous children, following the detection of as many as 215 unmarked graves.

Lalo de Almeida from Brazil was awarded the World Press Photo Long-term Project award for a series documenting threats to the Amazon rainforest. Ecuadorian photographer, Isadora Romero, has won the World Press Photo Open Format Award for a series titled ‘Blood is a Seed’, a multimedia presentation composed of digital and film photographs, some of which were taken on expired 35mm film and later drawn on by Romero’s father. It explores forgotten memories of the land and crops and learns about her grandfather and great-grandmother who were ‘seed guardians’ and cultivated several potato varieties, only two of which still mainly exist.

The newly redesigned World Press Photo Yearbook 2022 showcases the prize-winning images, stories and productions from the Contest. The Yearbook contains in-depth essays and a jury report for context and reflection. The book will be published in six languages and will be available from early May. To view this year’s winners, visit https://www.worldpressphoto.org/.