Three young photographers from Britain, Armenia and Italy have been awarded prestigious grants for their work in the field, by the French NGO CCFD–Terre Solidaire. The first edition of its ‘Terre Solidaire Photo Award' prize highlights the contestants’ dedication to environmental and humanist photography.
CCFD – Terre Solidaire is a French NGO which has for the last 60 years supported international solidarity and development projects. They have established connections with local partner associations so that they can carry out their own projects all while raising public awareness elsewhere.
The Prix Photo Terre Solidaire (Earth Solidarity Photo Award) is a way for the organisation to support photographers who are actively contributing to positively change things through their work.
“This prize salutes the magnificent work of the photographers who testify to the difficult – even terrible – living conditions of the most vulnerable and the destruction of the environment and biodiversity, but also the courage and resilience of human beings to decide to stand up and choose, with others, how they want to live, in a more united, fairer world, more environmentally responsible,” said Sylvie Bukhari-de Pontual, president of CCFD-Terre Solidaire.
Launched in September 2022, this first edition, chaired by Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, received more than 480 applications from 71 countries.
British photographer Emily Garthwaite received a grant worth €10,000 for her project “Light Between Mountains”, at a ceremony in Paris on Thursday.
Refuge in the mountains
Photographed in Iraqi Kurdistan, it is a visual documentation of the Zagros Mountain Trail and the people who travel its worn paths. She portrays their pastoral way of life, traditions and beliefs.
She told RFI that the series stemmed from a famous Kurdish saying "‘We have no friends but the mountains".
“When there’s a bombing, or displacement the Kurds say: ‘We really have no friends but the mountains, no one will protect us.’"
The trail forms a 220km-long corridor that runs from the Syrian and Turkish border in the west to the Iran border in the east.
“The mountains are formidable and terrifying in so many ways and for most people inhospitable, but they have found this way to have an intimate relationship with the mountains because there they’ve been able to hide and survive,” she explained.
Garthwaite fell in love the region back in 2017 when she discovered a pilgrimage in the south of Iraq called the Arba’een, where millions of Shia Muslims walk the 75 kms between the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
Fascinated by this little-documented event, she joined in. It was there she met people who encouraged her to come back and discover the Zargros hiking trail in the north.
The very act of walking would open doors to Garthwaite’s creative spirit in ways she couldn’t have anticipated.
From 2019, she decided to stay. “I just knew that it was exactly where I wanted to be, a connection with the land, with the people; real love”.
As well as capturing people and landscapes near Akre where she is based, Garthwaite has a particular penchant for the sunlight that pierces the mountains.
She walks regularly with local men, who know the region well enough to avoid the piles of unexploded landmines.
As well as telling their stories, they have gradually allowed their own daughters to join the hikes, something that had not traditionally been the case.
“I always think that these relationships really shape both parties, it’s not just me.
"I know they’re impacted by my role in their life. I’m a foreign woman, I go walking alone, I drive around alone, I have a certain freedom. They really respect my choices. It’s really great to see these men offering this freedom to their daughters as well, to walk with me”.
Defying prejudice
Garthwaite has also seen her project as a way of countering the prejudice she witnessed when she returned on trips to the UK. Her images became a way of combatting the negative impression left by years of media commentary on the wars in the region, the focus on the death, violence and politics.
“I started making this work to share with other people. I needed people to understand why I love the land and the people. Just the simple act of sharing these images seemed to change people’s minds,” she added.
The CCFD – Terre Solidaire Prize appears to fit her like a glove, combining “environmental storytelling with a humanist perspective”.
“The award couldn’t have been designed in a better way for the work that I make,” she said, underlining how appreciative she is of the French respect for photojournalism.
Moments of hope in the darkness
“This requires people living in a place, investing in a community and sticking around enough to see the seasons change, enough to see how people change. For me to be recognised is a singularly special moment in my life."
When asked about what else is on the horizon, the photographer says she has just come back from Turkey and Syria covering the earthquake for the New York Times.
Although not used to covering natural disaster zones, she would like to back and continue her work, based on encounters with survivors and how they are dealing with guilt and grief, but always with a glimmer of hope.
“Let me bring you something else – the ‘light between the mountains’, these little moments of hope, that keep me a float as well. I need to know something good happened that day, people were fed, people were warm, people had each other”.
The Grand Prize Terre Solidaire (€30,000) went to Italian photographer Alessandro Cinque for his documentary project, "Peru: a toxic state", on the environmental, social and cultural consequences caused by the exploitation of mining resources in Peru.
Armenian photographer Anush Babajanyan, member of Agency VII, was awarded the Terre Solidaire Photo Prize for her “Battered Waters” project, testifying to the water crisis in Central Asia.
The winners will have their works shown at exhibitions in France in the autumn of 2023.