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A black and white photograph of a person and a child standing together against a backdrop of draped plastic sheeting. The person wears a striped shirt and trousers, with an arm resting on the child’s shoulder.

A black and white photograph of a person and a child standing together against a backdrop of draped plastic sheeting. The person wears a striped shirt and trousers, with an arm resting on the child’s shoulder.

In Pictures: portraits lensing the wait at the Mexican border win Sony World Photography Awards

Responding to topics from the climate crisis to lockdown, the winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2022 have been announced. We take a look at the works below, including Adam Ferguson's documentation of people waiting to cross into the US.

Words: Liz Gorny
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Date: 12 April 2022; News
Photography
Portrait
Award
Documentary
Society

GalleryAdam Ferguson: Migrantes (Copyright © Adam Ferguson, Photographer of the Year, Portraiture, Professional category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

A black and white photograph of two people sitting in a concrete corner. One person holds the other close in a protective embrace, their faces touching.

A person with curly hair sits on a textured rug, leaning against a draped fabric backdrop. They wear a light-coloured tank top and trousers, looking directly at the camera.

A black and white portrait of a person looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression. They wear a zip-up jacket and have a face mask pulled down around their chin. — Above
The winner of Sony World Photography Awards 2022, Adam Ferguson’s Migrantes was created after the photographer noticed a distinct lack of photography from the Mexican side of the border in 2021, especially images that gave the migrants any measure of agency.
Adam explains: “The life of a migrant at the border, waiting for the right moment to cross into the United States, is often in flux. To capture a piece of this uncertain journey, I mounted a medium format camera on a tripod with a cable release and then stepped back, allowing the migrants to choose the moment of capture and give them agency in the process of documenting their lives.”

A person wearing a black top hat and a tan jacket stands on a path, facing away from the camera. They are surrounded by tall, wispy trees and spiky green plants. — Above
A series evoking the calm, isolated moments Hugh Fox felt during the pandemic, Portfolio includes this image capturing a person “having a quiet reflective moment” at the photographer’s local park.
Hugh Fox: Portfolio (Copyright © Hugh Fox, United Kingdom, Portfolio, Professional category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

A person stands waist-deep in a calm, misty body of water, holding a long pole. In the foreground, rows of heavy, olive-green bags are packed tightly together in the shallow water. — Above
Shunta Kimura documents Gabura Union, Bangladesh in 2021, whose residents are frequently impacted by the effects of the climate crisis. These include river erosion, landslides, rising salinity levels in fresh water sources and collapsing infrastructure, caused by the tropical cyclones that occur frequently.
Shunta Kimura: Living in the Transition (Copyright © Shunta Kimura, Environment, Professional Category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

A snow-covered mountain peak rises under a dim, dusky sky. In the foreground, the dark silhouette of a forested slope cuts across the bottom of the frame. — Above
Lorenzo Poli wins the Landscape category with Life on Earth, captured in Italy. Poli states: “There is an untamed world between sacred and magic, where the essence of life is safeguarded by silence, where the outer and the inner world coincide. This is what I am seeking to photograph.”
Lorenzo Poli: Life on Earth (Copyright © Lorenzo Poli, Landscape, Professional Category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

A group of people perform a traditional dance in a dusty open square. They are bent low to the ground in coordinated movements, wearing colourful waist wraps and ankle bands. — Above
Ricardo Teles documents the Kuarup, “a ritual of the Xingu Indigenous Brazilian to honour the illustrious dead – it is the farewell and closing of a mourning period,” explains the Sony World Photography Awards gallery. The highlight of this celebration is a competition of a martial art called Huka-huka, similar to the Greco-Roman wrestling fight.
Ricardo Teles: Kuarup (Copyright © Ricardo Teles, Sport, Professional Category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

A fox stands on the bonnet of a car at night, looking through the windscreen. The view is from inside the vehicle, showing the dashboard and rearview mirror. — Above
Over a course of eight months, Milan Radisics documents a cottage in the middle of the forest in Hungary – “where wild animals live almost as neighbours of the villagers,” says the photographer. Radisics took images of a fox, Roxy, by setting lights in advance and waiting until she walked into frame.
Milan Radisics: The Fox’s Tale (Copyright © Milan Radisics, Wildlife & Nature, Professional Category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

A small, dilapidated cottage with a steep gabled roof sits nestled among dense trees. The yellow paint is peeling from the walls, and the wooden shutters are weathered and closed. — Above
Domagoj Burilovi’s Dorf (village in German) explores the decay of houses created in the 19th century in the Croatian region of Slavonia, and the exodus of people from Slavonia for Germany today.
Domagoj Burilović: Dorf (Copyright © Domagoj Burilović, Architecture & Design, Professional Category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

An abstract composition of geometric shapes in pastel pink, blue and orange. Thin black lines connect a series of circles and rectangles against a neutral beige background. — Above
Images taken by Haruna Ogata and Jean-Etienne Portail in a studio in Paris, “for the pure creation of a still life photo”, win the Still Life category.
Haruna Ogata & Jean-Etienne Portail: Constellation (Copyright © Haruna Ogata & Jean-Etienne Portail, Still Life, Professional Category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

A circular collage in shades of blue and orange, featuring a dense arrangement of classical figures, animals and architectural ruins. A large figure in dark robes sits atop a creature at the top, overlooking a tiered landscape of temples and statues. — Above
“For my collages, I have used images from the open source collections at art museums, scientific institutions and image banks, whose archives may be considered iconic testimonies of the present and the past.” Latvia-based photographer Alnis Stakle wins the Creative category with a series of collages exploring various periods, media and domains of visual culture.
Alnis Stakle: Mellow Apocalypse (Copyright © Alnis Stakle, Creative, Professional category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

A person holds a small child in their arms, both looking towards the camera with solemn expressions. They stand in a sandy, open area with a simple building and sparse trees under a cloudy sky. — Above
Jan Grarup documents Venezuela following the financial collapse, leaving “many with no access to emergency aid, shelter, clean drinking water or food,” explains the Sony World Photography Awards.
Jan Grarup: The Children of the Financial Collapse in Venezuela (Copyright © Jan Grarup, Documentary Projects, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

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Adam Ferguson: Migrantes (Copyright © Adam Ferguson, Photographer of the Year, Portraiture, Professional category, Sony World Photography Awards 2022)

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Further Info

View the full gallery of Sony World Photography Awards winners here

About the Author

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Liz (she/they) is the senior editor at Insights, a research-driven department within It’s Nice That. They previously ran the news section of the website. Get in contact with them for potential Insights collaborations or to discuss Insights’ public-facing reports.

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