Durban photographer Lee-Ann Olwage claimed a win at the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 Overall Winners recently.
The World Photography Organisation announced Olwage as one of the overall winners of the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards 2023.
Olwage, born and bred in Durban, is an award-winning visual storyteller and photographic artist known for exploring themes of identity, transitions and universal narratives through long-term projects.
Olwage won in the creative category for her series “The Right to Play”.
Olwage beat Noemi Comi from Italy, who was placed second and Edoardo Edoardo Delille & Giulia Piermartiri also from Italy, who placed third.
Speaking on her win, Olwage said: “It’s a great honour to win such a prestigious award and represent South Africa on a global stage. A lot of great artists participated in the creative category so it feels good to be recognised. I’d like to thank Sony and the World Photography Organisation for giving artists the opportunity to compete and share our art with the world.”
Explaining her project, Olwage asked these three questions:
What do girls dream of?
And what happens when a supportive environment is created where girls are empowered and given the opportunity to learn and dream?
“The Right to Play creates a playful world where girls are shown in an empowered and affirming way,” Olwage said.
She said that worldwide, it is estimated that around 129 million girls are out of school and only 49% of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education, with the gap widening at the secondary school level. Every day, girls face barriers to education caused by poverty, cultural norms and practices such as FGM, poor infrastructure and violence.
“For this project, I worked with girls from Kakenya’s Dream in Enoosaen, Kenya who have avoided FGM and child marriage, showing what the world can look like when girls are given the opportunity to continue learning in an environment that supports them and their dreams,” Olwage explained.
To see Olwage’s galleries visit the Sony World Photography Awards.
Winners in the professional competition were selected by a panel of expert judges for submitting an outstanding body of work of five to 10 images, ranging from stories of war and reconciliation to the empowerment of women through education, and original approaches to the genres of still life and sport. All category winners received Sony’s digital imaging kit.
Shortlisted candidates were Richard Boll from the United Kingdom, Alessandro Cinque from Italy, Valentina Fusco also from Italy, Juliana Jacyntho from Brazil, Tommaso Sacconi from Italy and Emily Steinberger from the USA.
The Sony World Photography Awards 2023 exhibition has opened at Somerset House, London and will run from April 14 to May 1, 2023. It will feature over 200 prints and hundreds of additional images in digital displays from winning and shortlisted photographers.
For more information about this year’s winning and finalist projects, you can visit online winners galleries.
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