The best photojournalism in the world, on Visa pour l'Image

“To continue working and be safer, Saher Alghorra has had to remove the vest that identified him as 'press,' as it doesn't guarantee him anything—on the contrary,” says Laura Aruallan at the Visa pour l'Image festival in Perpignan. She represents Palestinian photographers covering the war in Gaza. After documenting the genocide—according to the International Criminal Court in The Hague—being perpetrated by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, she has won recognition and awards (a humanitarian Visa d'Or from the International Committee of the Red Cross). She currently contributes to The New York Times. “Going up to the roof of a hospital to get coverage and send photos also carries its risks; you're a target,” recalls Aruallan, who has worked in the West Bank for French media.

According to the latest data from the Committee to Protect Journalists this week, 273 journalists and photojournalists have died in Gaza in the last 23 months. This is the highest number since records began for war conflicts. “In the Vietnam War, for example, there were 123 deaths. Gaza is a disaster,” says JF Leroy, creator and director of the festival. “By the way,” he adds in conversation with La Vanguardia , “during the Vietnam War, you were either with the United States or with the Viet Cong, not in the middle; you can't be objective, but you can be honest.”

“Objectivity is the first word we should eliminate from journalistic folklore. We should strive toward honesty,” Leroy firmly asserted at the festival's opening on August 30.

The rusting remains of a boat near the Northern Aral Sea, its broken frame standing as a reminder of when the water stretched beyond the horizon. Kazakhstan, August 27, 2019. © Anush Babajanyan Photo libre de droit uniquement dans le frame de la promotion de la 37e édition du Festival International du Photojournalisme " width="449">

At his side was the mayor of the Pyrénées-Orientales region's capital, Louis Aliot, from the far-right National Rally party, who last year refused to award a Visa d'Or to a photographer because he was Palestinian. This year, he counter-programmed the Visa pour l'Image exhibitions with just one inside City Hall: Israel: The Massacres of October 7, 2023 , by Maël Benoliel, with the subtitle: "Antisemitism is not an opinion, it's a crime."

"As long as the mayor respects my choice, that's fine. If he doesn't interfere with my program, there's nothing to say. Many want to stir up controversy... but there won't be any. He's done what he wanted, and so have I. I'm completely free with my sponsors, politicians..." Leroy concludes.

At the Couvent des Minimes, AP photographer Julia Demaree Nikhinson exhibits "A Nation's Choice" (USA). "When Trump looks, he looks intensely; he knows where to look and how to look," says Demaree, who took the iconic photograph in which the brim of Melania's hat prevents the president from giving her a kiss.

The fear of dying in Ndakasi's eyes, here with her carer André Bauma from the Senkwekwe Centre, the only refuge in the world for mountain gorillas. Ndakasi survived when the rest of her family was killed in 2007. She spent the rest of her life in the company of humans and other orphaned gorillas. (2021) © Brent Stirton/Getty Images Photo libre de droit uniquement dans le frame de la promotion de la 37e édition du Festival International du Photojournalisme " width="449">

At a conference on artificial intelligence and imaging, Olivier Laurent, deputy director of photography for The Washington Post, questions how far AI can go and reveals that there is “an intense debate going on in his newspaper about whether and how to use AI.”

According to the UN, the world has 8.2 billion people, and American George Steinmetz proposes Feeding the Planet, with images taken with airplanes and drones in 50 countries he has visited and flown over in the last seven years.

Leroy concludes: “Don't ask me about the festival in the future… Enjoy this edition, it's top-notch , and we'll see what happens later. But we always need photojournalism, even if sometimes it doesn't change things as much as we'd like.”