The World Photography Organization has announced the 2023 Sony World Photography Awards winners. Edgar Martins from Portugal is the new Photographer of the Year for his series "Our War," dedicated to his friend Anton Hammerl, who died in the Libyan Civil War in 2011. Hammerl was abducted and killed by Government Militia, and his mortal remains were never found. Frustrated by the lack of information from formal investigations, Martins decided to travel to Lybia himself to try and trace back his friends' last movements. In doing so, he tells his story by taking portraits of people that Hammerl had connected with and those involved in the fighting in the country. The series is a profound conceptual work that ponders the question of how to tell a story without a witness, testimony, evidence, or subject.
Italian photographer Alessandro Cinque was also recognized with the first SWPA Sustainability Prize for his series Fog Nets (atrapanieblas). Cinque's pictures document an innovative solution helping to tackle chronic water shortages in Lima, Peru. The photographer shows how fog nets are used to catch droplets of airborne moisture and can collect about 200 liters (53 gallons) of water per day for residents.
The exhibition with pictures from all the winners will be open from April 14 to May 1, 2023, at Somerset House in London, featuring works from over 200 photographers, including Rinko Kawauchi, who received the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award.