The winner of AAPA 2011 is announced!
The winner of ‘Migration – Stories of a Journey’ Photographic Award 2011 is Paolo Patrizi from Rome. He was presented with the €1000 cash prize by the Lord Mayor of Westminster Susie Burbridge at a glittering ceremony at the Royal Horseguards in London’s Whitehall on Friday, 10 February 2012.
Also in attendance at the Royal Horseguards were the Mayors respectively of Wandsworth, Hounslow, Camden, Brent, Ealing, Lambeth, Merton, Redbridge, Richmond, and Southwark. In addition, the prize-giving ceremony was attended by the former Secretary of State for immigration, Barbara Roche, now Chair of the Migration Museum Project, the Consul General of Italy Uberto Vanni d’Archirafi and Naomi Gryn, writer and filmmaker.
Presenting the awards were Tim Hancock, Amnesty International Campaign Director and Clarissa Azkoul, Head of Mission for the International Organisation for Migration.
A selection of stunning photographs from amongst the works of thirty outstanding finalists were displayed at the Royal Horseguards, in this instance singled out for highlighting the difficulties experienced by migrants’ worldwide as they go on to seek out a better life in their adopted countries.
Paolo Patrizi’s social reportage sets out to illustrate the squalid and often dangerous world of Nigerian women, often deceived into working in the international sex trade. An industry where each year traffickers go on to trick young girls into following them away from the safety of their homes and into a lifetime of servitude in unfamiliar countries across the globe. These striking images are part of a larger collection, one of which is currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery.
The two principal runners-up are Erhan Uçar from Turkey and Alexandra Polina from Uzbekistan. Already an award-winning photographer, Uçar’s submission documents the last of the Sarıkeçililer nomadic tribes of Anatolia, whose lifestyle is now under threat as a result of central government pressure to settle down into fixed communities. In an altogether different approach as part of a submission titled ‘my house inside-out’, Alexandra Polina uses photographs of her own family and their belongings laid out on the street to illustrate how the inner and outer worlds of migrants are often in conflict.
Notes to Editors
Accademia Apulia Photography Award was established in 2008 to champion the importance of diversity in a fast-changing world. The Awards are intended to inspire artists from different communities to reflect on the importance of local heritage.
The Accademia Apulia UK is a non-profit organisation based in London, which has been designed specifically so as to foster a cross-cultural dialogue between communities worldwide. With a members of every nationality, the Association is well placed to offer its community an extensive and varied network of support.
This commitment to nurture an international artistic dialogue is reflected in the annual Photography Award, which, to date, has received the Patronage of Amnesty International, the British Council, the European Commission Representation in the UK, the International Organisation for Migration, the Italian Consulate-General in London and the government of Apulia, where the Accademia’s own journey began.
The ‘Migration - Stories of a Journey’ Photography Award 2011 has been sponsored by Belluzzo & Associates, Gattarella Resort, Metro Imaging, Publiglobe, One Whitehall Place.
