Regional partnership announcement

The World Press Photo Foundation and The Market Photo Workshop, South Africa announce partnership for Africa

The Market Photo Workshop will be the Africa regional partner for the World Press Photo Foundation. This long-term relationship is part of our ongoing strategy to be an organization that is “truly representative of voices that come from everywhere.”

Photographers from Europe and North America have historically dominated the photojournalism industry which has resulted in an imbalance in representation amongst entrants in the World Press Photo contest. This partnership with The Market Photo Workshop will allow World Press Photo Foundation to better connect to local networks on the African continent and provide more regional visibility for local photojournalists and documentary photographers.

The Market Photo Workshop will provide local knowledge and contextualization of the World Press Photo Contest to local photography communities. Together, we will work on amplifying the reach of the 2023 World Press Photo Contest winning photographs for the Africa region, as well as regional educational programs and funding opportunities. The Market Photo Workshop will also support World Press Photo with developing more regional exhibitions on the continent, and assist with communication campaigns in the region.

Joumana El Zein Khoury, Executive Director of World Press Photo Foundation:

"We are very excited to partner with The Market Photo Workshop as our Africa regional partner. They are a very well established photography institute with connections throughout the continent. By working together we can learn from each other, grow our expertise and ensure that a multiplicity of stories from Africa are shown all around the world.”

Tshiamo Mokgadi, CEO of the Market Theatre Foundation:

“The African continent’s relationship with international photography has been dubious at best. While we are familiar with the work of many photojournalists whose work has reflected our world to us as we know it, their work has often not been given the due regard that it deserves.

Through this partnership with the World Press Photo Foundation, we look forward to turning this around by ensuring that the important African stories that we need to see and that the world has to see, are presented from the viewpoint of people who live and know this continent best. Us. The potential for stories for Africa, from Africa and to the rest of the world’s media becomes exponential through this partnership. Together with our partners in the African media landscape and the Centres for Learning Photography in Africa, we look forward to this collaboration and the visual stories that it will illuminate.”

About Market Photo Workshop

The Market Photo Workshop is a Johannesburg-based school of photography, gallery and resource center for practicing photographers. Since its establishment in 1989, the school has played an integral role in the training and growth of photographers from South Africa and further afield, while promoting photography through exhibitions, public debates and collaborative projects, especially within marginalized communities. The Market Photo Workshop is a division of The Market Theatre Foundation. Market Photo Workshop is the recipient of The Principal Prince Claus Award 2018.

For more information, visit marketphotoworkshop.co.za or follow Market Photo Workshop on Facebook and Instagram.
Photo credit: Livhuwani Mutele