“An image that I would like to forget, but I can’t.” Author of the photo of the year

You want to erase that image from your memory, but you can’t. It will go down in history as a war crime against Ukrainians.

The author of the winning photo of “World Press Photo” 2023, Evgeny Maloletka, is from Armenia.

“Russian media and authorities accuse me, call me an information terrorist, they continue to claim that this photo is fake,” says the Ukrainian photographer.

In the photo, an injured pregnant woman, Irina Kalinina, whose child was stillborn, is being evacuated on a stretcher from the Mariupol maternity hospital. On March 9, 2022, a 32-year-old woman injured as a result of a Russian airstrike died half an hour after giving birth due to injuries incompatible with life.

For days, her husband, Ivan, searched for Irina among the wounded, but then found her in one of the numbered bags.

“Unfortunately, the war does not stop for more than 600 days. Our task is to tell the world the truth through the eyes of journalists and to show ordinary Ukrainians suffering because of the war,” says Evgeny Maloletka.

“In those days, we realized that we are the only international team besieged in Mariupol. There was no hope of evacuation, no electricity, no gas, no water. You didn’t know if you would stay alive. We were taking photos, trying to send them whenever possible, and trying to stay alive like the others,” he says.

Risking their lives in Mariupol, besieged for 20 days, AP photographers told the world the untold.

“All moments are hard, you are one on the front line, one in the hospital, you see all that pain, you collect it for the world to see. No one will remember Irina Kalinina, but with this photo, everyone will remember, they will see what is happening today with the future generation of Ukrainians. It is very important to record all this. the moment will pass, but the photo will remain,” observes the Ukrainian photographer.

Armenian photographer Anush Babajanyan with the project “Troubled Waters” is among the 24 prize winners selected from 60,000 photos. It is about the lack of coordination of water resources in the four landlocked countries of Central Asia.

A selection of photographs from around the world emphasizing the value of war and peace will be exhibited at the National Museum-Institute of Architecture for 20 days.

The winning photos of the “World Press Photo” annual competition have been sent to Armenia for the third year thanks to the Embassy of the Netherlands and the “World Press Photo” Foundation.