10 Of The Most Powerful Pics That Made It To The Winning List Of The "Female In Focus Photography Award 2022"
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The Female in Focus international award has announced its winners and the images are quite breathtaking this year. This competition was established to showcase the works of amazing female photographers and to combat gender inequality in the photography industry.
This award from the British Journal of Photography and its publisher 1854 Media is meant to empower women by putting 'female in focus'. Check out some of the most stunning winning images selected this year in the gallery below.
More info: Website
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
Joanne is an incredibly strong and wise young woman of Nigerian descent. Having albinism and a very poor vision has never stopped her from believing in herself and appreciating her own body. The essence of beauty is being, being who you are. We live in a world that encourages us to constantly criticise our looks and make us feel like we are not enough as is. The truth is beauty cannot be restricted. Beauty is simply being you’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
“I’ve never been photographed like this before … with all of my scars, I mean,” Catrin said to me. It left us both thinking of what is the limit on scars? How much can we see? Are we all becoming a part of the world where scars need to look ‘pretty’ too? Just enough that we can use them to remind ourselves that our lives are better? But not too much … so we can bear looking at them? Catrin was returning from a ski trip in the French Alps when the coach’s brakes failed and the crash happened: 96% of her body suffered third-degree burns’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘Miss July, Xola, is from the series Calendar Girls. The Miss Calendar Girl Beauty Pageant was founded in 2015 by Chedino, a trans woman whose gender-affirming transition I have been documenting since 2012. Pageants like Miss Calendar Girl provide normally “fringe” members of South African society with a safe environment, a support network, and above all, a sense of community’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘My Crystal Queens series started from this image. The central focus in my work is exposing and highlighting the absurd nature of the human pursuit to achieve perfection, and the extreme lengths we can go to. With the current ties the majority of people have to social media, anyone can be seen by the world at any moment in time, and this idea of having to be the perfect crystal version of ourselves, even when at home in our bathroom or living room or kitchen, is embodied in these images by the women wearing a skin of crystals’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘This is an image of my mother sitting in her wedding dress, post-divorce. When growing up in a strict Hindu-Punjabi household, my mother wasn’t allowed to explore the world until she was in a “safe” and “secure” marriage. Now, after her divorce from an arranged marriage, she’s finally able to explore the world that was deemed too dangerous for a lonely woman to face, understand her identity as a single mother and learn what home means to her after it breaks in half’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘What happens to your sense of self when you lose your memory? And how do we appear to others? Beautiful, elegant and engaged, Patricia defied the stereotype of a woman at 90 before developing dementia. I ask us to consider how in western culture we regard, portray – and often render invisible – the elderly, especially as they decline. How might we respect and celebrate their beauty and humanity in all states of being? From my series Patricia’s Room’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘In the spring of 2020 the world became untethered – all our rituals of normality were removed against the backdrop of a global pandemic. And so with little else to do we ventured to our local parks for our single dose of daily exercise. The portraits in this series capture the diversity of people whose lives are enriched by these extraordinary green spaces. It is my hope that these images will transcend the time in which they were made. In short, Parklife is my love letter to Londoners, and their cherished green spaces’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘Misha was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and her illness led to the necessity of chemotherapy. As a result, she lost her long, beautiful hair. Misha’s daughter wanted to support her during this difficult process and they shaved each other’s hair’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
'This image was made on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, for a project that aims to highlight the essence and spontaneity of a simple, genuine person who doesn’t have much contact with the city and technology and lives a more spontaneous life. This condition is the world, the universe, the home of these people, which is also a social tradition. Here, this woman reminds Penelope that in Greek mythology, waiting for her husband , weaving during the day and during the night unravelled what she had woven ...’
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘When the war against the cartel began in Ciudad Juárez in 2006, many of us took refuge in our private spaces (in our homes and in our bedrooms). In view of the public spaces being taken over by terrorism and violence, we made our homes a safe haven. This image represents duality and contrast. The interior is fully decorated in pastels in representation of our border aesthetic. The violence, public spaces, and the war on drugs are displayed on the television placed in the room’
#1 Joanne With Her Son – Kristina Varaksina
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
Joanne is an incredibly strong and wise young woman of Nigerian descent. Having albinism and a very poor vision has never stopped her from believing in herself and appreciating her own body. The essence of beauty is being, being who you are. We live in a world that encourages us to constantly criticise our looks and make us feel like we are not enough as is. The truth is beauty cannot be restricted. Beauty is simply being you’
#2 Catrin – Sujata Setia
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
“I’ve never been photographed like this before … with all of my scars, I mean,” Catrin said to me. It left us both thinking of what is the limit on scars? How much can we see? Are we all becoming a part of the world where scars need to look ‘pretty’ too? Just enough that we can use them to remind ourselves that our lives are better? But not too much … so we can bear looking at them? Catrin was returning from a ski trip in the French Alps when the coach’s brakes failed and the crash happened: 96% of her body suffered third-degree burns’
#3 Miss July – Julia Gunther
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘Miss July, Xola, is from the series Calendar Girls. The Miss Calendar Girl Beauty Pageant was founded in 2015 by Chedino, a trans woman whose gender-affirming transition I have been documenting since 2012. Pageants like Miss Calendar Girl provide normally “fringe” members of South African society with a safe environment, a support network, and above all, a sense of community’
#4 Crystal Queen – Jasmine De Silva
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘My Crystal Queens series started from this image. The central focus in my work is exposing and highlighting the absurd nature of the human pursuit to achieve perfection, and the extreme lengths we can go to. With the current ties the majority of people have to social media, anyone can be seen by the world at any moment in time, and this idea of having to be the perfect crystal version of ourselves, even when at home in our bathroom or living room or kitchen, is embodied in these images by the women wearing a skin of crystals’
#5 A Mother’s Journey – Sonali Ohrie
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘This is an image of my mother sitting in her wedding dress, post-divorce. When growing up in a strict Hindu-Punjabi household, my mother wasn’t allowed to explore the world until she was in a “safe” and “secure” marriage. Now, after her divorce from an arranged marriage, she’s finally able to explore the world that was deemed too dangerous for a lonely woman to face, understand her identity as a single mother and learn what home means to her after it breaks in half’
#6 Forget Me Not – Jennifer Blau
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘What happens to your sense of self when you lose your memory? And how do we appear to others? Beautiful, elegant and engaged, Patricia defied the stereotype of a woman at 90 before developing dementia. I ask us to consider how in western culture we regard, portray – and often render invisible – the elderly, especially as they decline. How might we respect and celebrate their beauty and humanity in all states of being? From my series Patricia’s Room’
#7 Danielle & Iyanna – Sophia Spring
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘In the spring of 2020 the world became untethered – all our rituals of normality were removed against the backdrop of a global pandemic. And so with little else to do we ventured to our local parks for our single dose of daily exercise. The portraits in this series capture the diversity of people whose lives are enriched by these extraordinary green spaces. It is my hope that these images will transcend the time in which they were made. In short, Parklife is my love letter to Londoners, and their cherished green spaces’
#8 We Don’t Fight Alone In This Family – Gala Semenova
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘Misha was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and her illness led to the necessity of chemotherapy. As a result, she lost her long, beautiful hair. Misha’s daughter wanted to support her during this difficult process and they shaved each other’s hair’
#9 At Home – Verônica Alkmim França
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
'This image was made on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, for a project that aims to highlight the essence and spontaneity of a simple, genuine person who doesn’t have much contact with the city and technology and lives a more spontaneous life. This condition is the world, the universe, the home of these people, which is also a social tradition. Here, this woman reminds Penelope that in Greek mythology, waiting for her husband , weaving during the day and during the night unravelled what she had woven ...’
#10 2006 – Persia Campbell
Image source: Female in Focus 2022
‘When the war against the cartel began in Ciudad Juárez in 2006, many of us took refuge in our private spaces (in our homes and in our bedrooms). In view of the public spaces being taken over by terrorism and violence, we made our homes a safe haven. This image represents duality and contrast. The interior is fully decorated in pastels in representation of our border aesthetic. The violence, public spaces, and the war on drugs are displayed on the television placed in the room’DE
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