- Fiona Prior
Explosive world media exhibition in Brisbane Powerhouse.
So much damage to such a vulnerable cross-section of our global village was probably the thing that stayed with me after viewing World Press Photos 16 at Brisbane’s Powerhouse. Though this exhibition included more than just those resonating and candid shots of children caught up in war, famine, exploitation and violence, it was these images that trapped my attention and still haunt me.
Image: Warren Richardson, Hope for a new Life 28 August, Serbia/Hungary border
I thought of the old adage ‘a village brings up a child’ and considered how badly we are doing as the adults of a global village in caring for our young. So many children are being injured daily; they are cold, uneducated and ripe for exploitation including recruitment into violent pursuits, prostitution and drug and arms trading.
The children and grandchildren of developed nations are also being done no service. The rise in popularity of ‘leaders’ preaching walls and gun-toting populations as a credible future is as equally worrying as our young ones being set up to be the future targets of their desperate and homeless counterparts. Our lack of will to address the world's core social, economic and political issues in a long-term and holistic manner means the mess is being passed on to the next generation.
The above image by Warren Richardson of a baby being passed through a hole in a barb wire fence is one that should be shared.
World Press Photos 16 Brisbane Powerhouse Until Sunday 21 August, 2016