The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has announced the winners of its second international photographic collaboration. Having launched its call for entries at the end of 2023, the women’s organization has already selected the lucky winners who captured vivid, immersive emotions through their photographic lenses.
With a massive 90 entries from 60 photographers from all over the world, invited to explore the theme “Men and love in times of war and polarization“, it was Micha Serraf who most seduced the jurors with his photographs, becoming the winner of this 2nd edition of the international photo partnership. The outstanding works of photographers Matthieu Paley, Cem Genco, Mouneb Taim and Slava Novikov also won over the jury members with their originality and relevant approach to the subject of the photo competition.
These diverse talents were selected by a renowned jury, convened by National Geographic’s award-winning photographer and filmmaker, Pete Muller. The jury included Azu Nwagbogu, founder and director of the African Artists’ Foundation; Gael Almeida, National Geographic’s regional manager for Latin America; Ismail Ferdous, award-winning photographer and faculty member at New York’s International Center of Photography; Jahi Chikwendiu, award-winning photographer at The Washington Post; and Sarah Leen, former director of photography at National Geographic Magazine and co-founder of the Visual Thinking Collective.
Micha Serraf: winner of the 2nd WILPF photographic collaboration
Micha Serraf, winner of this 2nd WILPF international photographic collaboration, won over the jurors with the power of his visual language and the originality with which he approached the theme. To express the link between man and love, the artist proposes a series of deeply communicative images that present themselves as “an attempt to find the means and methods to evoke what Bell hooks calls ‘feminist masculinity‘”.
An inclusive masculinity guided by an ideal of coexistence and fulfillment within the community, regardless of gender, be it men, women, queers, children, or even taking into account the well-being of the environment, to build a past of tranquility and a sustainable future. A collective future based on gentleness and integration.
Originally from Zimbabwe, Micha Serraf draws his inspiration from childhood memories of his native region, as well as from his quest for understanding and nostalgia in the face of the unknown. He embarks on an exploration of memory, identity and the concept of home, notions that form the basis of his personal and traditional nostalgic art. His images convey what might have been, aspirations caught between ancestral narratives and illusory optimism.
The intense expressive capacity that Micha Serraf conveys directly through his photographs earned him first place in this second international photographic collaboration, and won the admiration of the jurors for his work which, according to jury member Jahi Chikwendiu, “lies at the limits of portraiture as visual poetry“.
Talents in the spotlight: finalists in the WILPF collaborative project
Matthieu Paley and Cem Genco stand out as the two finalists in this photographic collaboration. French artist Matthieu Paley explores the theme “Men and love in times of war and polarization” through a series of portraits of Sufi pilgrims in Pakistan. He shared intense moments with Sufi pilgrims nicknamed the “warriors of love”.
For his part, Turkish artist Cem Genco tackles male love in a relationship through a poignant photograph of a Syrian couple supporting each other, after the female companion lost her legs in bombing raids in Syria.
Despite their different approaches, male love is at the heart of their moving images. With Matthieu Paley, it’s male vulnerability that comes to the fore despite vain attempts to appear strong in times of crisis, while with Cem Genco, it’s male tenderness and care that sustains the couple in the face of each other’s fragility.
Outstanding entries in the WILPF photography competition
The jury also praised the work of two other candidates: Slava Novikov for his unique image entitled “Inseparable”, expressing love in times of conflict and hardship, and Mouneb Taim for his captivating image taken amidst the ruins in Syria, symbolizing a man playing music for the love of his people in times of war. These moving, immersive photographs are a perfect response to the theme of “Men and love in times of war and polarization“.
The winners of this 2nd edition of the collaborative program organized by WILPF will benefit from a financial contribution and will have the opportunity to exhibit their work internationally. The photographs selected by the jury of experts will be presented online and in prestigious venues such as the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva, the European Union, the African Union, as well as in many of the countries where the project is being implemented, including Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.
