Survival announces winners of annual photographic competition

October 8, 2015

This beautiful image of the Bajau in Malaysia is the winning entry of Survival’s annual photography competition, and features on the cover of Survival’s 2016 calendar. © Soh Yew Kiat / Survival International

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Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, is delighted to announce the twelve winning entries of its annual photo competition. The winning photograph by Soh Yew Kiat is a stunning image of the Bajau tribe in Malaysia, also known as “Sea Gypsies.”

The winning entries give an insight into tribal peoples’ ways of life that are largely self-sufficient and extraordinarily diverse. The photographs feature, among others, the Dassanach, Suri and Hamar in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley, where a massive land grab is underway, and a Yawalapiti Indian in Brazil applying decorative face paint. 

The eleven runners-up are: 
Ambre Murard – photo of Amdo, Tibet
Pere Ribas – photo of Peul, Mali
Arturo Lopez – photo of Daasanach, Ethiopia
Mario Murcia – photo of Huitoto, Colombia
Luis Melo – photo of Bijagós, Guinea-Bissau
Trevor Cole – photo of Suri, Ethiopia
Simon Buxton – photo of Hamar, Ethiopia
Serge Guiraud – photo of Yawalapiti, Brazil
George Magaraia – photo of Marubo, Brazil
Eric Mindling – photo of Mixtec, Mexico
Annick Donkers – photo of Huichol, Mexico

The twelve winning photographs feature in Survival’s annual calendar. View a slideshow of the winning entries.

This runner-up image shows women from the Peul tribe in Mali carrying large bowls containing clothing and milk on their heads. © Pere Ribas / Survival International

Open to amateurs and professionals alike, the competition called for entries in the categories of guardians, community and survival, and aimed to celebrate photography as a powerful medium for raising awareness of tribal peoples.

The judging panel included Survival’s Director Stephen Corry, Survival Italy Coordinator Francesca Casella, The Little Black Gallery’s Co-founder Ghislain Pascal, and Max Houghton, Senior Lecturer in Photography at the London College of Communication.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, “Photographers bear a great responsibility to portray tribal peoples as contemporary societies – rather than somehow ‘primitive’ or stuck in the past. We believe the winning entries beautifully show tribal peoples’ extraordinarily diverse ways of life in the 21st century.”

Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, was founded in 1969 following an article by Norman Lewis in the UK’s Sunday Times Magazine about the genocide of Brazilian Indians, which featured powerful images from the acclaimed photographer Don McCullin.

Notes to editors:

- Survival’s 2016 calendar is now on sale featuring the winning image on the cover.

Brazilian Indigenous People
Tribe

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