Juliette Pavy è il Photographer of the Year del SWPA

French photographer Juliette Pavy is the Photographer of the Year at the Sony World Photography Awards with the project Spiralkampagnen: Forced Contraception and Unintended Sterilisation of Greenlandic Women.

A documentary work that investigates the serious and lasting consequences of the involuntary birth control campaign conducted by the Danish authorities in Greenland in the 1960s and 1970s. The series addresses the delicate topic of spiral campaigns, controversial initiatives in which thousands of Inuit women, including girls as young as 12, were subjected, without their consent, to the implantation of intrauterine devices for contraception. The project covers a period that goes from the origins of the program to the present day, also focusing on the current investigations carried out by the Danish government. By placing the perspective of the victims in the foreground, the narrative structure of Pavy’s work leaves room for important and dramatic reflections on collective trauma that affected an entire community.

The city of Nuuk

The work uses a variety of photographic formats: from shots depicting the city of Nuuk and its clinical spaces, to X-ray images and archive photographs of the young women involved. There is no shortage of recent portraits of the victims, of the doctors who worked in Greenland before and after the program and of the Danish parliamentarians currently involved in investigations into the spiral bombs.

Monica Allende, Jury President of the Professional 2023 competition, said about Pavy’s project: “The jury of the Sony World Photography Awards has rewarded the exceptional talent and empathy with which Juliette Pavy portrays her subjects, capturing them in a a manner that is both dignified and profoundly intimate. Pavy’s commitment to exposing the stark realities faced by marginalized communities, coupled with her compelling narrative approach, not only earned her the prestigious recognition of the Sony World Photography Awards, but also made the jury recognize her potential and the importance of supporting his career.” During the gala ceremony, the overall winners of the Open, Student and Youth competitions and the winner of the Sustainability Prize were also awarded. This year’s Sony World Photography Awards exhibition is open at Somerset House in London from 19 April to 6 May 2024, where visitors will have the opportunity to admire a retrospective of works by Sebastião Salgado, winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography title.