The prizes of the UP21 contest for young photographers have been awarded. Promoted by MUSEC and the Fondazione culture e musei, in collaboration with 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS gallery in Milan.
Chaired by German photographer Han Georg Berger, the international jury gathered at MUSEC has chosen the four winners of the UP21 prize.
The winners ex aequo of the 1st prize, consisting of a grant of 5,000 Swiss francs, are the Vietnamese photographer Khanh Bui Phu and the young Syrian photographer Mouneb Taim.
Third place, also ex aequo, went to Indian photographer Avinash Mishra and Chinese photographer Li Zhang.
A special prize, awarded by Artphilein Editions of Lugano, which consists of the publication of a prestigious volume, went to Vietnamese photographer Khanh Bui Phu. The jury also gave a special mention to the two Bangladeshi photographers Ahmed Rayhan and Shifat Shifatunnabi.
Khanh Bui Phu (b. 1987) presented his project “Make a nomadic living on the water ecosystem”. With great poetic intensity and skillful use of colour contrast, it depicts the life of nomadic fishermen on Tuyen Lam Lake in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam.
The fishermen of Khanh Bui Phu cannot keep up with the modern lifestyle, environmental pollution, deforestation and erosion of natural ecosystems that threaten their livelihoods. The jury also noted a strong narrative charge and a language that undoubtedly corresponds very closely to the modern literature of his country.
MUSEC, Lugano
29 ARTS IN PROGRESS, Milan
