Ukrainian photographers' association protests against Russian jury member for World Press Photo 2024

The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPP) is calling for Russian representative Maria Gelman to be removed from the jury of the World Press Photo 2024 competition, a statement from the association says.

The association is insistent that the composition of the jury must be changed, as some of the photographers it will be judging are from Ukraine.

In addition to Maria Gelman, the European jury includes:

• Anastasia Taylor-Lind – chair of this year's jury, photo editor, UK/Sweden;
• Andreas Trampe  – senior photo editor at Stern, Germany;
• Gilles Steinmann – director and photographer at Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Switzerland;
• Mariama Attah – curator, UK.

"UAPP considers Helman's participation to be illogical and it may affect the objectivity of decision-making when evaluating the participants' works. In addition, Russia's unprovoked, aggressive, cruel and unjust war against Ukraine has been going on for 10 years in a row, and we believe that the participation of the representative of the Russian Federation, Maria Gelman, raises a lot of ethical issues," the association noted. 

Maria Gelman is a queer Russian photographer, visual storyteller and producer. She was a member of the international VII Photo Agency. In her work, she often explores themes of identity, trauma and vulnerability and "seeks to challenge stereotypes and prejudices". She also focuses on the lives and ideologies of alternative communities and various social groups that face discrimination.

Gelman has received many awards, including the Istanbul Photo Awards, Pictures of the Year, and the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Numerous publications, including TIME, The Washington Post, Le Monde, Die Zeit and The New York Times, have featured her work.

About the World Press Photo competition

One of the winners of last year’s competition was Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka for his series of pictures The Siege of Mariupol. The photographer recorded the aftermath of the Russian airstrike on the Mariupol maternity hospital on 9 March 2022, mass graves, strikes of Russian shells and their victims.

World Press Photo is a free and open event for all professional photographers working in the field of photojournalism or documentary photography. Regional and global winners are chosen each year.

The names of the 24 regional winners will be announced on 3 April. Four global winners will then be selected from them in the following categories: World Press Photo of the Year; World Press Photo Story of the Year; World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award; and World Press Photo Open Format Award.

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