Photos draw attention to human impact on ecology
The World Press Photo Special Exhibition “Our World 2018-2020” is on display at Bund 18 Jiushi Art Gallery through December 13.
With support from the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Shanghai, the exhibition features winning photos and stories from the Nature and Environment categories of World Press Photo Contest between 2018 and 2020.
Founded in 1955 by a group of Dutch photographers to expose their work to an international audience, the contest has grown into one of the world’s most prestigious photography competitions.
Featuring a variety of visual stories — ranging from abandoned elephant calves in northern Kenya to the polar bears off the Arctic harbors — the exhibition highlights the natural world and human impact on the environment.
First prize stories from the 2018 contest’s Environment category by Kadir van Lohuizen feature four pictures — a garbage truck arriving at a landfill in Lagos, Nigeria; garbage collected in the center of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; a paper recycling plant in Tokyo, Japan; and plastic on its way to a recycling plant in Brooklyn, New York.
According to research by the World Bank, humans generate 3.5 million tons of solid waste every day, 10 times more than a century ago. Landfills and dumps are filling up, and the World Economic Forum predicts that by 2050 the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans will outweigh the total volume of fish.
The exhibition’s photos serve as a documentary of waste management systems in cities across the world, capturing how they manage or mismanage waste.
Rockhopper penguins navigate the rugged coastline of Marion Island, South Africa.
Exhibition info
Dates: Through December 5 (closed on Mondays), 10am-6pm
Venue: Bund 18 Jiushi Art Gallery
Address: 2F, 18 Zhongshan Road E1
