The World Press Photo Foundation and NOOR Foundation present Celebrating Communities, an exhibition and public program in Abidjan, Yamoussoukro and four cocoa-farming communities in rural Côte d'Ivoire, with the support of the Chocolonely Foundation and the Fondation Donwahi.
Communities exist in many forms and serve various functions, but they are all defined by the sense of connection and belonging they provide. Regardless of size, a community takes shape when people who share things in common—such as a neighborhood, a workplace or an occupation, a recreational activity, an interest, or a religious or political affiliation–come together as a group. The community structure often provides support, as well as built-in social relationships that help people feel bonded and part of a greater network.
Featuring ten award-winning projects from the World Press Photo Contest and ten bodies of work from NOOR's education program, Advanced Visual Storytelling in Cote d’Ivoire, this exhibition presents diverse types of communities and explores the profound impact that they can have on individuals around the globe. Many photographers included in the show depict ways that connectivity shapes our world and defines our human relationships. Their images also frequently visualize communities as catalysts for change—whether they protect the environment, advocate for justice, or build a more equitable society. From neighborly gestures to organized activism, the work in Celebrating Communities underscores the transformative power of human connection and shared purpose. Brought together for the first time, the photographs in this exhibition offer a powerful reminder of the role that communities play in our lives and society at large.
Presented here is a selection of the stories and photographs from the exhibition. What photographs resonate with you, and why? Share your thoughts on social media using the hashtag #CelebratingCommunities.
Transylvania: Built on Grass by Rena Effendi
Left: In Transylvania and other remote areas of Romania, many people farm on a small scale, in ways unchanged for centuries. 20 June 2012. Right: The Borca family relaxes after an early start to the working day in Maramureș, Romania, on 20 June 2012. Credit: Rena Effendi, INSTITUTE for National Geographic magazine
In Romania, 2.9 million people own farmland, which constitutes one-third of all the agricultural holdings in the European Union. Most of these farms are worked in ways unchanged for centuries. Farmers struggle to compete with other European imports and the profitability of the agricultural sector is low. Farming families often need to find other ways to earn money.
With this project, Rena Effendi reveals that this traditional way of life continues despite the threats of globalization and agricultural industrialization. In January 2024, hundreds of Romanian farmers gathered near Bucharest to protest against the high cost of diesel, insurance rates, EU environmental measures, and pressures on the domestic market from imported Ukrainian agricultural goods.
Amazonian Dystopia by Lalo de Almeida
Members of the Munduruku community line up to board a plane at Altamira Airport in Pará, Brazil, on 14 June 2013. Credit: Lalo de Almeida, for Folha de São Paulo/Panos Pictures
The Amazon rainforest faces many threats, especially since deforestation, mining, and infrastructural development gained momentum in 2019 under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s environmentally regressive policies. Devastation of the Brazilian Amazon endangers its extraordinarily biodiverse ecosystem. Exploitation of the Amazon’s natural resources also affects social and cultural conditions, particularly for Indigenous communities who must endure the degradation of their environment and their way of life.
In 2023, the newly elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pledged to achieve zero deforestation by 2030. Despite a 50% decline in deforestation rates last year, environmental enforcement agencies recently reported that operational constraints could affect their ability to reach this goal.
Left: Paulo Marcos Tupxi removes his beekeeper's outfit after collecting honey from his apiary in the Irántxe Indigenous Land in Mato Grosso, Brazil, on 25 August 2021. Right: Xikrin warriors arrive at Rapko village after an expedition to reclaim land that had been invaded and cleared by land-grabbers and illegal ranchers in Trincheira Bacajá Indigenous Land in Pará, Brazil, on 24 August 2020. Credit: Lalo de Almeida, for Folha de São Paulo/Panos Pictures
Japan’s Veteran Rugby Players by Kim Kyung-Hoon
Ryuichi Nagayama (center) practices before a match in Kumagaya, Japan, on 3 May 2019. At 91 years old, he is Fuwaku Rugby Club's oldest active player. Credit: Kim Kyong-Hoon, Reuters
According to a 2023 United Nations report, Japan has the world's oldest population. Elderly Japanese people often experience loneliness, with the Japanese National Institute of Population and Social Security Research finding that one in seven single men above 65 spoke with someone only once every two weeks or less.
Some Japanese seniors have turned to the Fuwaku Rugby Club as a social outlet. Founded in 1948, this collective is one of approximately 150 Japanese clubs that stage competitive, full-contact matches for players over the age of 40. The photographer depicted this club in 2019, the year that Japan hosted the Rugby World Cup, an event that boosted awareness and enthusiasm for the sport.
Finding Freedom in the Water by Anna Boyiazis
Swimming instructor Chema snaps her fingers as she disappears underwater in Nungwi, Zanzibar, on 28 December 2016. Credit: Anna Boyiazis
Many women in the Zanzibar Archipelago do not know how to swim, having been discouraged from learning the skill largely due to the absence of modest swimwear. To address this issue, a local initiative called the Panje Project began offering swimming lessons to local youth in 2011. The organization provides full-length swimsuits, allowing women to enter the water without compromising their cultural or religious beliefs. The Panje Project also trains seaweed farmers on survival swimming and empowers its students to eventually become swim instructors.
Left: Students from the Kijini Primary School learn to swim and perform rescues in the Indian Ocean, off Muyuni Beach, Zanzibar, 25 October 2016. Right: Swimming instructor Siti helps a young woman to float in the Indian Ocean, off Nungwi, Zanzibar, on 17 November 2016. Credit: Anna Boyiazis
In the Shadow of Wounded Knee, Aaron Huey
Oglala men carry a felled cottonwood tree to the center of a sun dance circle in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, United States, on 2 June 2012. Erected in the earth, the tree will become the focus of a four-day spiritual ceremony. Credit: Aaron Huey for National Geographic magazine
The Oglala Lakota people of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota live near Wounded Knee Creek, where the massacre of over 250 Lakota Sioux took place on 29 December 1890. The tribe’s history features violated treaties and broken promises on the part of successive US governments.
Today, Pine Ridge Reservation consists of more than 2.7 million acres, with communities widely dispersed across the area. Yet, a severe housing shortage and the Oglala concept of tiospaye—the unity of the extended family—mean that its population lives in overcrowded homes. In the last ten years, residents on the reservation have banded together to build new housing and open the Oglala Lakota Artspace. Traditional rituals and ceremonies, such as the purification rite of Inipi, also continue to bring Oglala Lakota people together.
Ebola Survivors Football Club, Tara Todras-Whitehill
Women celebrate after winning a penalty shoot-out in Kenema, Sierra Leone, on 21 April 2015. Credit: Tara Todras-Whitehill, The New York Times
Erison Turay founded the Ebola Survivors’ Football Club after he lost 38 members of his family during the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The outbreak was the largest since the virus was first discovered in 1976. Turay’s hometown, Kenema, is the third largest city in Sierra Leone and was one of the first and hardest-hit hotspots in the country. Sierra Leone had over 1,200 Ebola deaths in 2014. Survivors were often rejected by their communities, and judged by the false assumption that they were still contagious. Turay created the football club as a support network for survivors and a means to change negative views in the community.
Left: Erison Turay (right) plays with a member of his extended family in Kenema, Sierra Leone, 22 April 2015. Right: Women members of the club practice a sudden-death penalty shoot-out in Kenema, Sierra Leone, on 21 April 2015. Credit: Tara Todras-Whitehill
NOOR Foundation photographers
Presented here are a selection of the photographs in the exhibition from the NOOR Foundation, showcasing the results of its educational program Advanced Visual Storytelling in Cote d’Ivoire which took place over a period of eight months in 2023. Find out more information.
In Amanikro, Cacao is King, Justin Makangara
Victorine Koffi Amoene (33) lives in the village of Amanikro. An ambassador for children’s rights and protection, she raises awareness among local families and works on the plantation, Côte d’Ivoire, 2023. Credit: Justin Makangara
In Amanikro, a Baoulé village in the province of Divo, west of Abidjan, everything revolves around a tree with exceptional powers: the cocoa tree.
Village life, festivals and ceremonies all revolve around the cocoa plant, which in turn, provides for the needs of the community. Here, cocoa is king! In reality, the Baoulé village chiefs, with their vast lands, are its subjects. Along with the villagers, they take care of the cocoa, ploughing, watering and regenerating the soil whilst the other species of plant grown are there to make up its court. Cocoa undoubtedly reigns supreme.
Breaking with centuries of civil and political governance in pre-colonial Africa, built on empires, kingdoms and hierarchical classes, in Amanikro it is the cultivation of cocoa that has been pivotal, giving way a new social order. And although traditions and spirituality remain deeply engrained in this new era, cocoa has come to dictate daily life. An undisputed king for the future.
Mi Ti, ‘head’ in Baoulé, Olivier Khouadiani
Children of Amanikro acting out what are symbolic interpretations of the Goli mask, Côte d’Ivoire, 2023. Credit: Olivier Khouadiani
“Goli masks can represent a number of animals whilst performing a variety of roles. They report village events, accompany women during times of fertility and pregnancy, protect the village from all evils, settle conflicts between people from the same and from different villages, are present at funerals, chaperone the deceased into the afterlife and act as intermediaries between the physical and supernatural worlds.”
— Olivier Khouadiani
Locations
- Abidjan - 14 September to 13 October
- Daloa - 20 to 22 September
