"Exposure 2026 " It conveys stories and cultures from 6 continents across "Lens of the World Program"

Sharjah, December 28 / WAM / The International Photography Festival “Xposure 2026” announced the return of the “Lens of the World” programme, which brings together 6 male and 6 female photographers, one male and one female photographer, from each of the six continents, which include Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe and Oceania, with the aim of celebrating their local artistic photographic projects that carry global humanitarian and environmental dimensions.

The festival dedicates the “World Lens Program Space” area for the first time since its launch in the “Spaces” corner within the new structure of the tenth edition of the festival, which is organized by the “Sharjah Government Media Office” in Aljada in Sharjah from January 29 until next February 4 under the slogan “A Decade of Visual Storytelling.”

This year, the “World Lens Program Space” presents 120 photographic works within the projects of the qualified photographers, representing various visual narratives, from the defense of the lands of indigenous peoples in Canada and Greenland to the war in Gaza and Ukraine, and from the Amazon forests to the rapid transformations in the social and natural landscape in China, giving the public a rare opportunity to experience the world through 12 creative projects that represent languages, visual narratives, and artistic works that are distinguished by their human dimensions, cultural identity, and fleeting presence. For borders.

Her Excellency Alia Al Suwaidi, Director of the Sharjah Government Media Office, said that the “World Lens Program” reflects Xposure’s belief in the role of photography as a bridge for cultural and human communication and the exchange of knowledge between cultures. In its tenth edition, the festival dedicated the “World Lens Program Space” to enable visitors to explore poignant stories and unique experiences that reveal visual aesthetics and human, social and environmental challenges from all continents of the world.

She added, through the “World Lens Program Space,” we emphasize Sharjah’s role as a cultural capital that welcomes, respects, and shares diverse narratives. The works documented by this space are distinguished by their visual impact. They also document important moments that may not be repeated and stories that may not leave the scope of their local communities, and protect them from loss.

The two projects that were selected to participate in the “World Lens Program Space” from the continent of Asia focus on the land as a living memory of peoples and on ways to survive in the face of ongoing conflicts. In the “Yellow River” project, the Chinese photographer Kichun Zhang, known internationally for his documentary works that document the transformations of the Chinese landscape, traces the path of one of China’s most symbolic rivers. His project highlights environmental losses along with resilience, presenting a comprehensive picture of a people that balances history, cultural memory, and contemporary modernity.

As for the “Out of Gaza” project, Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Al-Awf documents the experiences of wounded civilians on a journey to receive treatment outside the Strip as a result of the recent events in Gaza. Her works published in major international newspapers focus on the humanitarian dimensions of what these events left behind and also present the reality of coexistence with the changes resulting from them.

The two projects qualified for participation from Africa discuss the idea of ​​marginalization, dignity, and cooperation. In the project “Front Line of Land Defense: Guardians of Gaia,” the work of Nigerian photographer Oyola Lawal documents the lives of socially marginalized men and women and their essential role in protecting the environment through their work in high-risk conditions within systems that rarely acknowledge their contributions. The project was the result of a long time spent by the photographer in “Olusosun,” the largest garbage dump in Africa, documenting the lives of workers who contribute to mitigating environmental damage through hard daily work.

The second project, titled “White Gold,” is by Egyptian photographer Amina Quddus and is linked to the city of Mahalla al-Kubra, which is based on Egyptian cotton cultivation and generations who worked in textiles, where her grandfather worked and founded a spinning and weaving factory in 1969, and her father continued to work in it, so that those family roots form the basis of the project, as “White Gold” examines the place where the memory of the official history of Egyptian cotton meets, which began as an imported colonial product and was absorbed by Egyptian culture to turn into a national symbol that challenges colonial narratives.

In the two selected projects from South America, the image turns into a tool of accountability, as Alessandro Cinque, who has gained wide international recognition thanks to his photographic investigations of environmental injustice, presents the project “The Price of the Earth”, an eight-year journey among mineral extractors in Peru. His work reveals the repercussions of these operations, including water pollution, causing long-term health damage, the erosion of the indigenous identity of the Quechua peoples in the Andes, based on the goddess of the earth “Pachamama”, and the price that the land pays under the pressure of global demand.

Meanwhile, the “Multiverse Portraits” project brings together the Peruvian artist Ana Sotelo with the artist and activist Sadeith Silvano, who specializes in “Shipipo Kiné” embroidery, which is a design of lines and geometric shapes of the indigenous peoples of the Shipibo-Konebo peoples. The project combines photography, heritage embroidery, and the construction of a visual language that challenges the colonial separation between art, knowledge, and nature, highlighting the indigenous peoples’ view of the world.

From the North American continent, the festival chose two pioneering projects to participate in the first “World Lens Program Space,” entitled “Wet’suwet’en Resistance,” in which Canadian photojournalist Amber Bracken, who specializes in covering the rights of indigenous peoples, documents the dispute over land ownership between indigenous people and the government in the Canadian province of British Columbia, the far western province of British Columbia, revealing how bridges of reconciliation are cracking due to the conflict between police intervention, land protection, and indigenous law.

The second project is titled “Ithaca No Loom.” Mexican photographer Felix Márquez, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, follows migration through Mexico as a state of constant movement and not just a journey aimed at reaching a specific destination. His works focus on exhaustion, waiting, and vulnerability, presenting a human visual narrative about displacement due to violence, climate, and exclusion.

The two projects qualified to participate in the “World Lens Program Space” from the continent of Europe explore the resilience of identity under environmental and political pressure. In the “Sila” project, the Slovenian photographer and National Geographic explorer Cyril Jazbek follows indigenous Inuit youth on the island of Umanaq in Greenland and how they balance heritage traditions with modern life in an arctic environment that is witnessing rapid change. The project, which spanned several years, combines photography and cinema to document resilience, grief, and belonging. And confronting climate change.

The second project is titled “When the Smoke Clears,” in which photographer Svet Jacqueline, currently residing in Ukraine, documents the lives of civilians away from the battle lines, focusing on daily survival practices, schools set up in underground shelters, families taking shelter at night, and children playing among the rubble in an image that reveals the continuation of humanity even in light of the horrors of war.

In the two shortlisted projects from the continent of Oceania, the land becomes a witness and a legacy. In the “Lost Place” project, Australian photographer Althea Casey, whose work has received great international appreciation, sheds light on the catastrophic forest fires in New South Wales, Australia, and through natural scenes and models preserved in museums linking environmental destruction to the history of colonialism, documenting feelings of sadness, anger, and lost aesthetics.

In the project “Out of Context,” photographer Joel Benguigui, who works between Australia, Europe, and Southeast Asia, presents a cinematic meditation on place, lineage, and displacement, moving across waterways, volcanic islands, urban networks, and coastal environments to explore how belonging is shaped not by geography alone, but by memory.

Photographers cannot apply directly to the program. Participation is exclusively through nominations, as international experts with recognized knowledge and experience in the field of photography register to nominate photographers participating in the “Lens of the World Program.”

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