An image captured by South African photographer Jodi Bieber has been named World Press Photo of 2010. The picture, of Bibi Aisha from Oruzugan Province, Afghanistan, featured on the 1 August cover of Time magazine. The photo also won first prize in the Portraits Singles competition. It depicts the 18-year-old Aisha before she underwent surgery to reconstruct nose and ears which had been sliced off by her husband, who was enforcing a Taliban-administered verdict.
A special mention was made of photographs taken by the Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days in 2010.
Commenting on the series of 12 photos, jury member Abir Abdullah said: “[I]t brings us into a new era that challenges professionals, and this is a good example of a photo from a place where a photojournalist could not possibly have been.”
The exhibition will first be shown in Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, from 22 April, before commencing a worldwide tour. A full list of competition winners in all categories can be found on the World Press Photo website.
Jodi Bieber’s series “Real Beauty” will be shown as part of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s forthcoming exhibition “Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography“, which opens in April.
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