Carmignac Photojournalism Award
10th edition — "The Amazon"

Laureate: Tommaso Protti

The 10th Carmignac Photojournalism Award is dedicated to the Amazon and the issues related to its deforestation. It is chaired by Yolanda Kakabadse, Minister of the Environment of Ecuador between 1998 and 2000 and President of WWF from 2010 to 2017. The Award was awarded to Tommaso Protti.

From January to July 2019, Italian photojournalist Tommaso Protti, accompanied by British journalist Sam Cowie, travelled thousands of miles across the Brazilian Amazon to create this reportage. From the eastern region of Maranhão to the western region of Rondônia, through the states of Pará and Amazonas, they portrayed life in modern day Brazilian Amazon, where social and humanitarian crises overlap with the ongoing destruction of the rainforest, lungs of the planet.

"I wanted to illustrate the social transformations, focusing on the veiled truth of the bloodshed and destruction that are currently taking place in the region. These diverse forms of violence are the consequences of changes in the global market, as well as of the exponential increase of global consumption, from cocaine to beef. Scientists claim the forest is reaching a point of no return because of deforestation, fuelled by illegal logging, and because of land grabbing, agricultural expansion, state and private sectors led development and resource extraction projects. I believe it is important to raise awareness of this situation and question it." Tommaso Protti

"With photojournalist Tommaso Protti, we embark on a journey to the heart of the crisis. His work is a candid look at the diverse landscapes and lives among the world’s last great tropical forest. (...) We get to meet indigenous activists who fight to protect the forest for future generations. We also witness the destruction caused by loggers, land grabbers and miners who exploit the region’s riches for their own profit. The pictures take us to the Amazon’s urban metropolises, where warring drug gangs kill to get control over the cocaine trade, and where desperate Venezuelans fleeing the civil conflict live in makeshift camps. We meet peasant activists who risk their life resisting the aggressive advance of agricultural bounds. We get to understand the huge damage inflicted to traditional river communities, consequences of state-led mega-projects such as hydroelectric dams. (...) Finally, Tommaso Protti’s work offers a glimpse at everyday life in one of the planet’s most extraordinary regions: people date, go to parties, worship and try to enjoy life, just like anywhere else." Sam Cowie

The 10th edition of the Carmignac Award will be exhibited at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris, from December 4th, 2019. A monograph, co-published with Reliefs Éditions, will be released at the same time. More information: www.fondationcarmignac.com

Tommaso Protti (Italy, 1986) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. He started his career as a photographer in 2011 after graduating in Political Science and International Relations. Since then, he has devoted himself on creating his own long-term projects.

His work has been exhibited internationally at The Royal Albert Hall (London), Greenwich Heritage Centre (Woolwich, UK), Benaki Museum (Athens), MACRo (Rome), 10b Photography gallery (Rome), Fotoleggendo festival (Rome), Les Rencontres d’Arles festival (France), Prix Bayeux-Calvados des Correspondants de guerre festival (France), Belfast Photo festival (Ireland), C40 Mayors Summit (Mexico City), UN COP 22 (Marrakesh, Morocco), PARTE Contemporary Art Fair (São Paulo, Brazil).

His photographs have been published in major titles including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, National Geographic, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Independent, Le Monde, Corriere della Sera, among others. He also works with international organizations such as the United Nations. Tommaso is a member of Angustia.

Theme: "The Amazon"

The Amazon is a vast region covering the territory of nine nations: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The region has a surface area of 5,500,000 km2 and is crossed by the Amazon river, the second longest river in the world and the largest by discharge volume of water. The Amazon alone accounts for half of the remaining tropical forests on the planet. It is home to 70% of the world’s biodiversity and to one in ten of the world’s species.

This territory is home to 30 million people, including 350 indigenous groups, most of whom live in their natural habitats, but the development of economic activities in the region mean that this ecosystem is under more threat than ever before.

Since 1999 at least 2,200 new species have been discovered in the Amazon biome, but with 17% of the Amazon’s surface area already destroyed, the rainforest is increasingly vulnerable.

Responsibility for the degradation and destruction of this fragile natural environment lies with climate change, but also human activity. The consequences are multiple and both local and global: greenhouse gas emissions, destruction of biodiversity, hydrological alterations and even soil erosion.

The Jury

Members of the Jury include:

CHAIR — Yolanda Kakabadse – Minister of the Environment in Ecuador (1998-2000) and President of WWF (2010-2017)
Simon Baker – Director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP)
Clinton Cargill – Photography Director of Vanity Fair
Alessia Glaviano – Photography Director of Vogue Italia, L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue.it Web Editor and Director of Photo Vogue Festival
Magdalena Herrera –Photography Director of GeoMagazine France
Kadir van Lohuizen – Photojournalist
Yuri Kozyrev – Photojournalist

Pre-jury

The pre-jury has the task of selecting between 12 and 15 proposals.
It is made up of:

Dimitri Beck – Photography Director of Polka
Emma Bowkett – Photography Director of the Financial Times Weekend Magazine
Nicolas Jimenez – Photography Director of Le Monde

Fondation Carmignac

The Fondation Carmignac, created in 2000, is a corporate foundation centered around two main focuses: an art collection of more than 300 works, and the Photojournalism Award which is issued annually.

In partnership with the Fondation Carmignac, directed by Charles Carmignac, Villa Carmignac, an exhibition space open to the public, was created on the site of Porquerolles in order to exhibit the collection and to host cultural and artistic events. More information: www.fondationcarmignac.com

Carmignac Photojournalism Award

In 2009, while media and photojournalism faced an unprecedented crisis, Edouard Carmignac created the Carmignac Photojournalism Award to support photographers in the field. Directed by Emeric Glayse, it funds annually the production of an investigative photo reportage on human rights violations and geostrategic issues in the world. Selected by an international jury, the laureate receives a €50.000 grant, enabling them to carry out an in-depth research in the field, with logistical support from Fondation Carmignac. The latter presents a traveling exhibition and the publication of a monograph upon their return. At the end of each edition, four photographs bequeathed by the laureates are included in the Carmignac collection.

Previous editions have focused on Gaza (Kai Wiedenhöfer – 1st edition), Pashtunistan (Massimo Berruti – 2nd edition), Zimbabwe (Robin Hammond – 3rd edition), Chechnya (Davide Monteleone – 4th edition), Iran (NewshaTavakolian – 5th edition), French Guiana (Christophe Gin – 6th edition), Libya (Narciso Contreras – 8th edition), Nepal (Lizzie Sadin – 8th edition) and the Arctic (Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen – 9th edition). More information: www.fondationcarmignac.com/photojournalism

The 11th edition of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award

The 11th edition is dedicated to the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the call for submissions is open until October 16, 2019.

Call for submissions: www.fondationcarmignac.com/democratic-republic-of-congo