World Press Photo

Last weekend I went to the State Library to watch the World Press Photo prize winners.

World Press Photo is a non profit that organises the world's largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest. Prizewinning photographs are assembled into a traveling exhibition that is visited by over two million people in some 45 countries worldwide. The idea is to develop photojournalism and consequently enlarge people's conscience.

As you can imagine, the exhibition is impacting. Amongst all the very interesting facts and stories featuring news, contemporary dramas, sports, nature and people, one picture called a lot my attention. It was taken by Espen Rasmussen, from Norway, and shows over 3,000 people gather for Friday prayers facing icy winter conditions to pray at the ruins of the main mosque in Balakot, Pakistan, one of the towns worst hit by the Kashmir earthquake.

That picture transmitted a sense of wrong and injust; but also a strength coming from an incredible faith, that makes people pass through one more disaster, overcome another unfairness and pray for a better future. Better than what? Was this dream possible at any point of our history? How do out minds work so unreasonably?

See the picture here (can't publish it here because of the copyright).