Spectacular Moments of Life and Death Are Unveiled in the 2021 World Nature Photography Awards

“Facing reality” © Amos Nachoum. All images courtesy of the 2021 World Nature Photography Awards, shared with permission

Taken across six continents, the entries to the 2021 World Nature Photography Awards capture the hungry, curious, and ingenious animals around the globe. This year’s winners include an arctic fox braving an Icelandic snowstorm, a trio of red ants forming a bridge to let each other pass between rocks, and a serendipitous shot of a leopard seal preparing to snack on a gentoo penguin, which garnered the top prize. Centering on both the largest and the often imperceptible creatures inhabiting the planet, the photos are diverse and an example of the wonder and awe that exists at every level of the animal kingdom. See some of our favorite shots below and the full collection on the award’s site.

 

Arctic Fox, Iceland © Vince Burton

© Mohammad Murad

“Capturing the movement” © Mike Eyett

New York City Humpback © Matthijs Noome

© Massimo Giorgetta

“North of the Wall” © Christian Tuckwell Smith

© Chin Leong Teo

“Open wide” © Celia Kujala

© Buddhilini de Soyza

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Interview: A Conversation with Social Justice Sewing Academy Explores Community Activism and the Power of Remembering Through Quilts

All images courtesy of SJSA, shared with permission

When witnessing inequity is like digging into an already numb wound and participating in surface-level social justice is as easy as recycling digital shares, the Social Justice Sewing Academy offers the power of touch. The organization works with kids and teens to make quilt blocks that express injustices in their lives, and Colossal contributor Gabrielle Lawrence recently sat down with program director Stephanie Valencia to discuss the project’s mission in a new interview supported by Colossal Members.

They speak about the work of honoring the victims of violence and their families through community art, supporting young entrepreneurs with creative or social justice-oriented businesses, and most importantly, giving people something to hold on to.

So often, when someone loses a loved one, you cherish their items for a while. And then eventually, their items end up in a box, in the back of a closet, or in an attic somewhere. This really does give the family something to hold on to and use every day. Beyond comfort, it’s reflection, as well as memory. Every time they see or touch that quilt, they can remember the good times.

Ultimately, SJSA empowers youth to use their voices and requires tactile processing of issues that often seem bigger than all of us. Every stitch is felt, and it is not a practice that participants must endure alone. From design to completion, each person is required to spend time sitting with these stories in a physical way, which creates room for grief, remembrance, education, and critique.

 

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In ‘Turn Off the Plastic Tap,’ Three Tons of Waste Pour From a Spigot Floating 30 Feet Above Ground

All images © Benjamin Von Wong, shared with permission

Last week, representatives from 175 nations formally agreed to curb plastic pollution in a momentous move. Plastic has become an increasingly urgent part of the climate crisis, and recent estimates approximate that the total amount of the material produced throughout history exceeds the combined weight of all animals on land and sea. Each year, we collectively generate 300 million tons more waste from single-use containers and similar products, a staggering number in comparison to the 9 percent we’ve recycled and a testament to the harsh reality that the planet is engulfed with plastic.

To coincide with the United Nations Environment Assembly meeting, photographer and artist Benjamin Von Wong (previously) erected a towering, 30-foot installation outside U.N. headquarters in Kenya. With the help of the Human Needs Project, an NGO providing basic services to slums around the world, Vong Wong collaborated with more than 100 residents of the large, poverty-stricken region of Nairobi known as Kibera. Together, they gathered, sanitized, and strung up three tons of water bottles, condiment containers, and other unwanted items that were then suspended from the oversized silver spigot.

Although it shows a minuscule portion of the waste produced worldwide, the resulting installation, titled Turn Off the Plastic Tap, is a powerful indictment of consumerism and the lack of environmental protections. “Too much of the plastic conversation revolves around recycling and cleanups, but those only deal with the consequences, and not the root cause,” Von Wong writes. “The real solution and opportunity is getting plastic production back under control by making sure we turn off the plastic tap.”

Watch the video below and check out Von Wong’s Instagram to see how the massive spout was constructed, and find more of his projects concerned with plastic waste, like this installation of 168,000 straws, on his site.

 

Photo by Atieno Muyuyi

Photo by Atieno Muyuyi

Photo by Ziggy

Photo by Atieno Muyuyi

Photo by Ziggy

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Hens and Roosters Fly the Coop and Strut Into the Spotlight in Alex ten Napel’s Portraits

All images © Alex ten Napel, shared with permission

“Hens and roosters can’t be directed,” says photographer Alex ten Napel. No matter the situation, the red-faced birds are wholly themselves, lurching from one spot to the next, burying themselves within masses of feathers, and spreading their wings as if they’ll finally lift off the ground despite being notoriously poor fliers. Chickens are known for their awkward gaits and distinct attitudes and are also the latest subjects of ten Napel’s portraiture.

Having focused his lens on people for about 25 years, the Amsterdam-based photographer realized that documenting the fowl occupying his henhouse would be a compelling challenge. This interest culminated in his ongoing Hens and Roosters series, which shines studio lighting on the oddly photogenic creatures and captures their unique mannerisms as they strut around the space. “Photographing became unexpected, exciting, and out of control. I was impressed by these little feathered creatures who had the power to tell me to be patient and to wait for the right moment,” ten Napel shares.

Prints of the moody birds are available on his site, and keep an eye on his Instagram for news about a Hens and Roosters book. You also might enjoy Henji Shin’s antagonistic chickens and these glamour shots.

 

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Vibrant Embroideries by Hillary Waters Fayle Enhance the Natural Beauty of Preserved Leaves

Photos by David Hunter Hale, © Hillary Waters Fayle, shared with permission

Favoring thread and found materials, Richmond-based artist Hillary Waters Fayle (previously) works at the intersection of textile traditions and botany. “Stitching, like horticulture, can be functional,” she says, “a technical solution to join materials/a means of survival. Or, both can be done purely in service of the soul, lifting the spirit through beauty and wonder.”

Fayle’s practice embodies this sentiment with elaborate and colorful embroideries applied to dried leaves. Lined with brown edges, the perfectly preserved surfaces become more fragile as they age, and the threaded embellishments enhance the relationship between the natural and fabricated. “There is a sense of magic in being able to work with such an unexpected and exquisite material,” the artist says. “The tension in the thread, the type of stitching, the needle, the species, and the season are just some of the factors that may influence what happens.” Recent pieces include ornate networks in blue on ginkgo, floral motifs on eucalyptus, and red dots on golden leaves.

This summer, Fayle’s works will be on view at Quirk Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia, and this fall at Asheville’s Momentum Gallery. Until then, explore more of her stitched works, in addition to leafy cutouts and large-scale murals, on Instagram.

 

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Evoking Micro Life, Porcelain Sculptures by Shiyuan Xu Swell in Intricate Shapes

“Hybrid #1” (2021), colored porcelain paperclay and glaze, 20 × 7 × 18.5 inches. Photo by Guy Nicol

At once rigidly skeletal and imbued with rhythmic movement, the porcelain sculptures that comprise Shiyuan Xu’s Growth series are intricate recreations of single-celled organisms, molecules, and other micro lifeforms. The Chinese artist hand-builds delicate ceramic works of three-dimensional webbing that swell and surges into amorphous shapes mimicking a range of living creatures. Stretching up to two feet, the enlarged, abstract sculptures incorporate both the universal nature of evolution and change, while directly tying to Xu’s background. “My attempt of using the classical Chinese blue and white and celadon color palette in a contemporary way reflects my own narratives, life experience, and cultural heritage” she shares, explaining further:

The regular and irregular structures and layers of my piece blend in with the memory of my sensations and personal experience. The repetitive and labor-intensive process seems to be a therapy to ease my anxiety and sense of uncertainty while facing constant challenges in the intersections of two cultures.

To create each piece, Xu undertakes a laborious process that involves applying a heavy glaze and then using a knife to scratch the edges away. The removal leaves a line of raw clay coursing through the middle of each segment, and works like “Blue Vein #4” and “Hybrid #1” emphasize that central element with color. “After the piece is fired, I repeat the same process many times, to spray, scrape, and fire again, until the surface texture is accumulating to very obvious degree,” she tells Colossal, noting that she sometimes replicates these steps ten times—check out the artist’s Instagram for a detailed look at her process.

Xu is currently an artist-in-residence at Chicago’s Lillstreet Art Center, and if you’re in London, you can see her work from May 10 to 15 with Ting-Ying Gallery at Design Center Chelsea Harbour.

 

“Vena #4” (2020), porcelain paperclay and glaze, 23 × 10 ×17 inches. Photo by Guy Nicol

“Vena #9” (2021), porcelain paperclay and glaze, 24 × 8 × 18 inches. Photo by Jeanne Donegan

“Vena Celadon #2” (2021), porcelain paperclay and glaze, 20.5 × 13 × 12 inches. Photo by Guy Nicol

“Blue Vein #14” (2021), colored porcelain paperclay and glaze, 14 × 6.25 × 20 inches. Photo by Jeanne Donegan

Detail of “Blue Vein #14” (2021), colored porcelain paperclay and glaze, 14 × 6.25 × 20 inches. Photo by Jeanne Donegan

“Vena #4” (2021), colored porcelain paperclay and glaze, 19.5 × 8 × 19 inches. Photo by Guy Nicol

Detail of “Vena #9” (2021), porcelain paperclay and glaze, 24 × 8 × 18 inches. Photo by Jeanne Donegan

“Vena #3” (2019), porcelain paperclay and glaze, 19.5 × 11 ×10.5 inches. Photo by Guy Nicol

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Winners of the 2022 World Photography Awards Highlight the Striking Sights of Life Around the Globe

Thanh Nguyen Phuc. National Awards, Travel, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards. All images shared with permission

The Sony World Photography Awards (previously) garnered a whopping 340,000 entries for its 2022 competition, with subject matter spanning from the magical landscapes of Turkey to an intimate portrait of Burmese siblings. Approximately 170,000 of those original submissions fall under the contest’s National Awards category, which recently announced the top images. The winning collection offers a varied and striking look at the state of contemporary photography and a broader consideration of culture, documenting both the serendipitous and composed sights from 62 countries around the globe. Select photos from the competition will be on view from April 13 to May 2 at Somerset House in London, and you can view the entire collection on the contest’s site.

 

Cigdem Ayyildiz. National Awards, Landscape, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

Edina Csoboth. National Awards, Portraiture, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

Filip Hrebenda. National Awards, Landscape, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

Swe Tun. National Awards, Portraiture, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

Wonyoung Choi. National Awards, Architecture, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

Metha Meiryna. National Awards, Portraiture, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

Raido Nurk. National Awards, Motion, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

Martina Dimunova. National Awards, Portraiture, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

Minko Mihaylov. National Awards, Lifestyle, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

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