Focusing
on children
UNICEF's Patroness Christina Rau presents "UNICEF's
Photo of the Year"
Winner of this year's international "UNICEF's Photo
of the Year Award" is the American photographer Meredith
Davenport. This prize is awarded by UNICEF Germany in
co-operation with the magazine GEO and Leica Camera plc
for photos of highly artistic standards illustrating children's
lives and personalities in an extraordinarily intensive
way. The winning photo shows a handicapped boy from Costa
Rica sitting on a sofa and protecting his eyes with his
right hand. The photo stems from a series of pictures
on the everyday life of handicapped children in Costa
Rica. UNICEF's patroness Christina Rau personally presented
the award to Meredith Davenport in Berlin. The photographer
received a Leica M6 camera as well as a commission for
a photo report for the children's magazine GEOlino. Apart
from the winning photo, the six jury members – among
them well-known photo specialists - specially honoured
three other photographers: Jan Grarup from Denmark for
his photo of child soldiers in Palestine, the German photographer
Vincent Kohlbecher for his photo of Romanian street children
as well as the South African photo artist Roger Ballen
for his portrait of a sleeping child.
1.
Prize Meredith Davenport, "Siviani on the
sofa"
By means of her awarded
photo "Siviani on the sofa", the photographer
Meredith Davenport illustrates her encounter with
the handicapped nine-year old boy Siviani from Costa
Rica. "This portrait is not meant to arouse
pity but rather to reflect Siviani's independent
personality. I have experienced Siviani as a person
that expresses his ideas and wishes in his very
own way", explained the photographer.
"The photo irritates the spectator as he cannot
immediately identify the situation the child is
living in. Thus, the photo generates a sort of tension,
it causes reflection and challenges questions on
the personality and the situation the boy illustrated
is living in", explained the jury chairman
Klaus Honnef Phd.Meredith Davenport's photos show
the everyday life of physically and mentally handicapped
children and their families in a village about 50
kilometers north-east of Costa Rica's capital of
San José. Doctors and scientists assign the
children's handicap to the use of pesticides on
banana plantations. The children's parents have
been exposed to pesticides for years during their
work. When taking care of their children they are
hardly or only insufficiently supported.
2.
Prize Jan Grarup, "The
boys from Ramallah/Westbank"
A black and white photo of the
Danish photographer Jan Grarup from a photo series on
the everyday life of Palestinian children in Ramallah
in the Westbank. The photo shows boys with machine guns
during a death procession. The procession was organised
by the PLO-supporting Fatah-movement.
3.
Prize Vincent Kohlbecher, "Street children in Bukarest/Romania"
Das Farbfoto des deutschen Fotografen
Vincent Kohlbecher stammt aus einer Bildserie zum Thema
Straßenkinder in Rumänien. Das Foto zeigt zwei
Straßenkinder auf zwei Bildebenen: Im Vordergrund
ist unscharf ein Junge zu erkennen, der Lösungsmittel
schnüffelt. Im Hintergrund spielt ein Mädchen
vergnügt mit einem Hund.
4.
Prize Roger Ballen, "Portrait of a sleeping girl"
This still life "portrait of a
sleeping girl" was taken in 2000 by the South African photo
artist Roger Ballen. The picture is part of a photo series on
a family from Johannesburg. Ballen has taken pictures of for
over 16 years now. The photographer describes his motivation
in taking these pictures as purely aesthetic.
