23rd Visa pour l’Image – Perpignan

May, might, could… Apparently… Purportedly… It seems or has been said/alleged/reported that…
For a few years, and increasingly so over recent months, there has been widespread use of such circumlocutory terms for the purpose of speculation or ambiguity when reporting the news. Bin Laden is said to have hidden behind one of his wives. Apparently he had a handgun. No, it has been alleged that he was shot in the back.
It is said that traces of sperm may have been found on the collar of the garment worn by the maid. No! This has apparently been denied by the police. According to the lawyers, the woman may… According to some sources, more than 50 people may have been killed in Sana’a.
The Website www.junktales.com is said to have had access to exclusive information. No, not at all! According to another Website, the celebrated www.weinventthestory.org, the exclusive is a complete fake.
A tweet by a gossiping blogger is said to be proof of whatever… No, that’s not it. A few minutes later, another blog by Whosit, is alleging the opposite.
Hang on! Let’s be rational. News comes pouring in, one story after another, and people don’t have (or won’t find) the time to analyze it and put it in perspective. The different media are in head-on competition. Critics in English-speaking countries complain that we refrain from telling the full story about the private lives of our politicians; but then they may be forgetting that they all rushed to back George W. Bush when he declared that forces had to be sent to Iraq because of the weapons of mass destruction there, WMDs that only ever existed in his mind. So what? We’re even. But we haven’t got anywhere either!
Where do the photographers t in? There is no circumlocution or sidestepping for them. In Ivory Coast, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Japan, Afghanistan and Iraq, they are always there, in critical positions to get the eye witness reports.
We would have loved to be able to say that Lucas Dolega, Chris Hondros, Tim Hetherington and Anton Hammerl are apparently still alive.
Unfortunately, for this terrible list, no verbal tricks or circumlocution can change the facts. It is a straightforward statement with the verb in the present tense. They are dead. We shall never forget them.

Jean-François Leroy
June 21, 2011

 

EXHIBITIONS
Rodrigo Abd – A peace more violent than war
Martina Bacigalupo – My name is Filda Adoch
Jocelyn Bain Hogg – The Family
Jonas Bendiksen – Bangladesh: On The Frontline of Climate Change
Valerio Bispuri – Encerrados – Travels to South American jails
Chien-Chi Chang – Burma: Inside the Land of Shadows
Barbara Davidson – Caught in The Crossfire: Innocent Victims of Gang Violence
Days Japan – Japan, March 2011. Days Japan – a Selection
Peter Dench – England Uncensored. A Decade of Photographing the English
Bertrand Gaudillère – A Face Behind the Statistics
Cédric Gerbehaye – The Land of Cush
Yuri Kozyrev – On Revolution Road
Catalina Martin-Chico – The First Square Kilometer of Freedom: Change Square, Sana’a, Yemen  – Martyr, your blood has not been shed in vain. Chant of the revolutionaries in Yemen
Fernando Moleres – Juveniles Behind Bars in Africa
Lu Nan – Forgotten People.The State of Chinese Psychiatric Wards
Ed Ou – Children of Men
Paris Match – The Arab Spring
Issouf Sanogo – Ivory Coast
Shaul Schwarz – Narco Culture
João Silva – Afghanistan
Brian Skerry – Ocean Soul
Pierre Terdjman – United we were strong
Riccardo Venturi – Haiti – the Aftermath
Alvaro Ybarra Zavala – Colombia, in Eternal Sorrow
International Daily Press
World Press Photo

Visa d’or
Visa d’or Daily Press Award: International Herald Tribune (USA)
Visa d’or Feature Award : Olivier Jobard
Visa d’or News Award: Yuri Kozyrev
ICRC Humanitarian Visa d’or Award – International Committee of the Red Cross: Catalina Martin-Chico

Prix

Canon Female Photojournalist Award: Ilvy Njiokiktjien
City of Perpignan Young Reporter Award: Ed Ou
FRANCE24-RFI Web Documentary Award: Bruno Masi & Guillaume Herbaut
Ani-PixPalace Award: Lurdes Basoli
Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography
Bourses FNAC : Anastasia Taylor-Lind, Jan Banning et Cédric Gerbehaye