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by Daniel Tripp

An exhibition of the most striking and inspiring images from 2001 captured by press photographers around the world opened Thursday night at the Barefoot Gallery, Colombo.

Images of people throwing themselves out of the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, a Taliban soldier's expression as he is dragged off by to be executed by Northern Alliance troops and the bloody body of a young anti-globalisation protestor behind a barrier of riot police at the G8 summit in Geneva contrast with the comical, beautiful and fascinating.

You can see the winner of the 2001 World Press Photo of the Year Award, taken by Erik Refner of Denmark for the Berlingske Tidende, which shows the body of a one year old child from Northern Afghanistan being prepared for burial by the aged hands of his relatives in a refugee camp in Pakistan.

The World Press Photo is a non-profit organisation founded in the Netherlands in 1955 in order to support and promote the work of professional press photographers. The exhibition which includes around 200 of the prize-winning pictures, selected from over 49,000 entries, is visited by over a million people in 35 countries every year.

The exhibition incorporates political, environmental, scientific, sports and arts related photographs as well as general news and daily life

stories. Among the most interesting political images is a photograph of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat carrying the coffin of his friend and state television director Hisham Miki who was shot by masked gunmen in a restaurant.

Other highlights include the expression on the face of a mexican rodeo worker trying to jump out of the ring as a bull charges towards him and a shot of the sky being lit up by a blue magnetic field known as the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.

Images from the Middle-East and in particular Afghanistan dominate the award winners reflecting the current emphasis on current affairs. The criteria for the winner is that it should encapsulate the year's events, representing a prominent issue, situation or event and also project it with creativity and clarity.

The exhibition which will run until August 23 will not only capture your imagination but also engage your mind. The photographs induce a wide range of responses from intrigue and horror through to laughter and emphasise the unique power to captivate and influence views of press photography. If you have the time to visit I am sure that they will make a lasting impression on you.

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