World Press Photo scales back exhibitions in China due to ‘risks involved for local organizers’

Mohammed Salem

Disputably the best regarded and most famous international annual photojournalism and documentary photography contest – World Press Photo (WPP) – has scaled back its exhibitions in China, citing strict government regulations and the risks involved for the local organizers, Babette Warendorf, director of Exhibitions & Partnerships of the World Press Photo Foundation, has told the Times.

In response to a Times inquiry on the shrinking to almost zero of the number of exhibitions from this year’s event in most of Asia and China, including Macau and Hong Kong, Warendorf said, “World Press Photo is feeling the consequences of declining press freedom worldwide, as reported by Reporters without Borders. In recent years, we’ve seen several incidents of governments restricting access or canceling exhibition[s], [such as] in Hanoi in 2022 and Budapest in 2023.”

While noting that carrying out the annual exhibition in most locations in China carries the same risks, the same official explained, “As World Press Photo is considered controversial in China and due to strict government regulations, it is a challenge to find venues and partners who are willing to collaborate. We are still committed to finding a partner to organize the annual show, but we also realize there are risks involved for local organizers.”

Eddie Jim

Nonetheless, WPP also said that in China as well as Mongolia, the organization is counting on the support of the Dutch embassy to carry out the “Resilience exhibition,” a separate thing from the WPP annual contest.

This exhibition focuses on stories of women inspiring change, presenting a selection of stories, awarded in the annual WPP contest from 2000 to 2021, highlighting the resilience and challenges of women, girls, and communities around the world.

Alejandro Cegarra

According to Warendorf, this exhibition will be held this year, following the partnership with the Dutch embassies, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia).

The same official also noted that for the usual 2024 WPP Contest exhibition, the only location confirmed so far is Taipei, Taiwan, which is scheduled to take place from Oct. 19 to Nov. 10 at Studio94, an art studio in Taiwan.

Anna Boyiazis

This year marks the 67th WPP Contest which has selected the winning works from more than 61,000 entries from all over the world.

Held in Macau since 2008, the last WPP exhibition in Macau which counted on the organizational support of the Casa de Portugal em Macau (Portuguese Association in Macau) was held in 2020 and came to an unexpected close in early October after just a few days.

Macau was, at that time, the only city in Chinese territory to host such an exhibition which was considered particularly sensitive by some because it portrayed a story related to the social unrest in the region of Hong Kong.

Lee-Ann Olwage

As the Times also reported at the time, earlier speculation hinted that the Macau exhibition would not display these images, which was later proven false.

Over the years, many cities in China have held this exhibition including, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Nanjing.

The exhibition has also counted, over the years, with numerous Chinese award winners.

This year’s winner of the “World Press Photo of the Year” was Mohammed Salem, representing the Reuters news agency in Palestine.

The winning work portrays a Palestinian woman embracing the body of her niece, killed in the ongoing conflict with Israel.

The “World Press Photo Story of the Year” award was attributed to Lee-Ann Olwage, South Africa, for GEO Magazine, for the work titled Valim-babena.

2024 “World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award,” was awarded to Alejandro Cegarra, Venezuela, The New York Times/Bloomberg with the work “The Two Walls.”

Last but not least, the “World Press Photo Open Format Award” was granted to Julia Kochetova, Ukraine for the work “War Is Personal.”

This article has been updated to reflect changes regarding the reduction of exhibitions in China.