“Container,” by Anna Simone Wallinger: For refugees and asylum seekers who arrive in Berlin, a settlement of container-like accommodations in an industrial area just outside of Berlin-Spandau functions as a central collection point. In this area, no (social) infrastructure is available either for adults or children. For the duration of their stay, people accommodated here are thus limited in their being to living within the walls of a container home.

Selected by Recommending Viewer on September 1, 2010

A photo essay by Keith Dannemiller on Paloma, a fifteen year-old girl growing up in an orphanage Ciudad Juárez due to her mother’s potential to be abusive and who celebrates her Quinceañera – a Mexican rite of passage for girls – sponsored by the city government. With an introduction by TIME magazine photo editor Mark Rykoff.

Selected by Mark Rykoff on August 30, 2010

Daniel Cuthbert is one of our guest curators. He is also a documentary photographer. Daniel’s view on Orania may contradict certain reports that have been published in the press. To me, one of the most important aspects of being a photographer is going out into the world unbiased, to view with my own eyes and to listen. Daniel has done just that. In this case, the outcome is a set of photographs that allow viewers their own thoughts on the post-Aaprtheid situation of white “boers.” Looking at the set as a whole, I think of loneliness, of loosing touch with the world.

Selected by Diederik Meijer on August 28, 2010

In a region that has been stirred up by political, religious and military conflicts for centuries, Italian photographer Davide Monteleone captured scenes of an everyday life that is still far away from normality. With an eye for telling details he transmits a sense of agitation and uncertainty lurking underneath the even surface. His images of the Russian Caucasus are poetic and captivating, yet informative and insightful.

Selected by Sophia Greiff on August 26, 2010

In his photo essay “A Star in the Sky” photographer Thomas Lekfeldt accompanied the Danish girl Vibe and her family. Vibe was diagnosed with a cerebral tumor at the age of five and died two years later. In sensitive and intimate images Lekfeldt documents a family life between hospitalizations and chemotherapy, joy and sorrow, hope and despair. Capturing this plethora of emotions without the intention of being tear-jerking, Thomas Lekfeldt presented a very touching and emotional series.

Selected by Sophia Greiff on August 24, 2010

From June 16th to June 20th 2010 the second Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism took place in the city of Hannover. In his work “The Terrible City – Gaza 2009” German photographer Heinrich Völkel focuses on the urban structure of a city that has been the centre of violent confrontations between Israelis and Palestinians since the 1970s. It is a city of ruins and debris, in which people are attempting to regain a state of normality. Showing a life in improvised circumstances, Heinrich Völkel also has an eye for the special aesthetics of the ruins.

Selected by Sophia Greiff on August 20, 2010

From June 16th to June 20th 2010 the second Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism took place in the city of Hannover. Along with lectures of renowned photographers, panel discussions and portfolio reviews, more than 1400 images were presented in sixty exhibitions. A close insight into the favelas of Brazil’s second largest city was presented in João Pina’s photo essay “Gangland – Rio de Janeiro’s Urban Violence.” In one of the most violent cities in the world Pina looked at both sides of the story, documenting young drug dealers and gang leaders, as well as police units going about their work with an oftentimes indiscriminate force. In a straight and unbiased fashion Portuguese photographer João Pina shows a cruel reality in which it is nearly impossible to escape the violence.

Selected by Sophia Greiff on August 17, 2010

It hasn’t been so long since Kabul was considered an open-minded metropolis. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Afghan capital was a popular stop on the hippie trail to southern Asia. Now, after thirty years of occupation and war, Afghanistan is struggling to reestablish its identity. Residents are pessimistic about the future. Rebuilding the city drags on, and the constant fear of new attacks has shaken people’s trust in NATO forces. “Crossing Kabul” is a portrait of today’s Kabul where, far from the fighting, normality is slow to return. German photographer Daniel Pilar focuses on everyday situations caught between tradition, Western influence and social progress.

Selected by Sophia Greiff on August 11, 2010

From June 16th to June 20th 2010 the second Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism took place in the city of Hannover. One of the most touching and affecting stories was the work “Albino – In the Shadow of the Sun” by Swedish photographer Johan Bävman. By portraying people with a pigmentary abnormality who are being discriminated against and even killed due to the widespread superstition that their body parts hold magical powers, Bävman calls attention to a group of outcasts in Tanzanian society. He shows the traces and wounds that the sun has left on the skin of the portrayed but refrains from displaying images of suffering and misery. Amongst the hardship there’s also laughter and hope, there are friendships and intimacy.

Selected by Sophia Greiff on August 8, 2010

This series of images accompanied by text is part of a larger installation called “Je suis la frontière” (I am the border) which encompasses a growing archive of audio and visual documents that explore the complexity of living in the US – Mexico borderland. The whole archive constitutes a personal cartography of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, two cities that are at the same contiguous but divided by four international bridges. In her work, Vera seeks to challenge the limited and biased information that the media gives us about certain places in the world. She believes in approaching those places by listening to individuals, following their steps, and walking on the streets. She thus hopes to create a personal cartography of a place and to give presence to the voices and life stories behind the sometimes overwhelming statistics.

Selected by Marta Daho on July 27, 2010