As exhibition venue, event space, and the keeper of an old house, Studio 94 offers a humanistic reprieve for weary urban souls willing to make the journey up to Yangmingshan, Taipei’s beloved mountain range that houses a dormant volcano. To mark the opening of the 2023 World Press Photo Exhibition in Taiwan, the gracious hosts had even prepared fresh fruit tea (their starfruit brew is outstanding) and an alluring pot of “Stone Soup” was bubbling away next to amenities like napkins and bug spray. The aura is warm and the lights are merry.
Fresh produce including zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, onion, celery, cabbage, mustard greens, kohlrabi, and garlic line the table at the venue’s courtyard. A heaping basket of gourd, carrot, taro, corn, squash, radish, cauliflower, and loofah hang right by the main entrance. Apples, guava, and starfruit abound. These are the ingredients that make up “Stone Soup” — a rustic stew with no fixed recipe that gained its name from a European fable about community and sharing. The moral of that story is on full display here, as the free drinks and food are made entirely from items donated by exhibition-goers.
Visitors are asked only to wash and return the cups and bowls provided by the hosts, who also lead a pesticide-free, farm-to-table project on Yangmingshan. Studio 94 was conceptualized as a space for cultural dialogue by The Thermos Foundation (玉溪有容教育基金會), a nonprofit founded by the late Lin Wen-shung (林文雄), founder of stainless steel maker Crown Manufacturing Corporation (皇冠金屬) that has been the exclusive distributor of THERMOS products in Taiwan since 1989.
In fact, Studio 94 was once Lin’s old abode. It was carefully restored and reimagined by architecture students from Tainan National University of the Arts over the course of two years, winning gold at the 2013 Taipei Architecture Renovation Award. The Thermos Foundation helped to add Taiwan to the World Press Photo Exhibition’s global tour in 2004, and Studio 94 began hosting the annual affair since 2012.
Lin brought the World Press Photo Exhibition to Taiwan to share the most exceptional photographic stories from different corners of the world. About the most pressing news stories of 2022 that were on display at Studio 94 this year:
The winning entries call attention to some of the most pressing issues facing the world today, from the devastating documentation of the war in Ukraine to intimate scenes of daily life in Mexico. To encourage greater understanding and awareness, as well as reinforce the need for press freedom, World Press Photo shares these important stories with audiences in all corners of the globe.
Photo of the Year: ‘Mariupol Maternity Hospital Airstrike’ Evgeniy Maloletka
Iryna Kalinina (32), an injured pregnant woman, is carried from a maternity hospital that was damaged during a Russian airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine. Her baby, named Miron (after the word for ‘peace’) was stillborn, and half an hour later Iryna died as well.
Story of the Year: ‘The Price of Peace in Afghanistan’ by Mads Nissen
Unable to afford food for the family, the parents of Khalil Ahmad (15) decided to sell his kidney for US$3,500. After the operation, Khalil suffers chronic pain and no longer has the strength for football and cricket. The lack of jobs and the threat of starvation has led to a dramatic increase in the illegal organ trade. Herat, Afghanistan.
‘The Big Forget’ by Lee-Ann Olwage
Sugri Zenabu, a mangazia (female community leader) of the Gambaga “witch camp”, sits encircled by residents in Gambaga, Ghana, on 27 October 2022. Zenabu shows some signs of confusion and memory loss associated with dementia.
As life expectancy rises, dementia is increasingly becoming a public health and socio-cultural issue in Ghana and across Africa. Lack of public awareness of behavior associated with the condition means that women displaying symptoms are sometimes perceived as witches. In Ghana, they may be sent away to live in so-called “witch camps”.
‘Alpaqueros’ by Alessandro Cinque
Vital to the livelihoods of many people in the Peruvian Andes, alpacas face new challenges due to the climate crisis. With natural pastures shrinking and glaciers retreating, these animals increasingly struggle to graze and hydrate. Alpaquero (alpaca-farmer) communities in turn may be forced to move to higher altitudes or to abandon their lifestyles. To combat these difficulties, scientists hope to address the problem by creating breeds more resistant to extremes in temperature. The jury appreciated the way the story illuminates how culture and identity are deeply intertwined with the environment.
‘Net-Zero Transition’ by Simone Tramonte
Greenhouse operations in Ostellato, Italy, pictured on 22 February 2021, are based on a circular economy. Plant waste fuels the biogas (renewable fuel) plant that powers the greenhouse.
Renewable energies, new technologies for food production, and the circular economy can be seen as key directions among European companies seeking a green transition. Human-induced climate change is the largest, most pervasive threat to the natural environment and society that the world has ever experienced, according to the OCHR. This prompted the European Union to establish targets to cut greenhouse emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 and to reduce them to net-zero by 2050. The photographer documents innovative technologies that offer possible routes to these goals.
‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ by Anonymous: https://vimeo.com/805960806
This photo-based video offers a rare and personal glimpse into the dangers faced by protestors on the streets of Iran today.
‘Shifting’ by Johanna Alarcón: https://vimeo.com/805959864
Valentina is a 13-year-old who aspires to become a photographer and whose mother is in prison for marijuana possession. The combination of analog and digital photography with video, animation, and audio gives a special look into the inner life of a young artist making sense of the world through her photography.
The above are just a fraction of the photo stories chosen from 60,000 submissions. Visit the exhibition for geopolitical, climate, and human stories from six global regions — Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, South America, and Southeast Asia and Oceania. All the winning entries are also displayed on the World Press Photo Contest website.
Do also visit Studio 94 to recharge; they hold workshops and lectures, too!
