LSE PHOTO PRIZE 2011
PHOTOGRAPH
EXPLANATIONS
133rd Rath Yatra, Ahmedabad, India
Gemma Rocyn Jones, a postgraduate student from the Department of Social Policy.
An annual festival celebrating the Lord Jagganath’s journey to visit Queen Gundicha. The Ahmedabad
procession travels through the old city, home of the 2002 communal riots. Although a Hindu festival,
the muslim community joins in the celebration which provides a welcome opportunity to display and
promote communal harmony.
Alcohol Research
Thomas Dilley, an undergraduate student from the Department of Anthropology.
The fine line between those in the mainstream of society and those who have crossed the border to a
subculture that lives by another set of rules is demonstrated by the passing pedestrians going about
their daily lives and the person who encroaches on their ‘safe’ society from across the border.
Amber Fort – Japuir
Poorna Harjani, an undergraduate student from the Department of Social Policy.
The walls of the historic Amber Fort are reminiscent of the Great Wall of China. The walls restrict the
limits of certain animals and elephants can only go up to a certain height. To be able to cross the
intricate borders of this fort and reach the top, allows one to overlook the Old City of Jaipur.
Ambororo Children breaking up camp
Mareike Schomerus, a PhD student from the Department of International Development.
The Ambororo are nomadic people who cross from Darfur into southern Sudan to graze their cattle.
With Sudan’s possible break-up into two, the citizenship status and freedom of movement of such
‘trans-boundary’ people has become a contested issue.
artificial reflections
Saskia Baer, an undergraduate student from the Department of Anthropology and Law.
Two shoppers take a break punting on an artificial canal inside the newest shopping arcade of
Singapore. Marketing is crossing the border of the natural and tourists buy into consumer fantasies.
Baluchi Traveller
Roohollah Honarvar, a postgraduate research student from the Department of Management.
Some Baluchi people cross the border of Iran and Pakistan on a daily basis. This photo, taken few
kilometres from the border, may represent one.
Black and white Condor
Elliot Vick, an undergraduate student from the Department of International History.
This photograph depicts the Andean Condor at the Iguaçu Falls. It is taken from the Brazilian side of
the Falls but the waterfalls that can be seen in the background are on the Argentinean side. The
photograph is taken looking across the Iguaçu river which forms the border between Brazil and
Argentina. It is a border which the condor crosses many times a day.
Border crossing
Val Straw, a member of staff from the LSE Library.
A bright and crisp new year’s day at my favourite place – Dungeness beach, on the Kent coast. The
wide sky and the camber on the beach always makes me feel that at the end of the road I will take off
and cross into the sky itself.
Chinese cyclists
Andy Thornley, a Professor from the Department of Geography.
The bank creates a border between different kinds of lake but also provides a transport channel to
enable a crossing.
Cross-cultural joy
Rianne Hunt, a postgraduate student from the Department of Management.
A local Zambian child is ecstatic to see someone from across the world take interest in his life and runs
to greet them proudly showing off his English, asking the usual 'hello, how are you?'.
Crossing Borders: Human – Animal Territory
Emma Kandelaars, a postgraduate MPA student.
Kidepo Valley National Park, northern Uganda – A ranger camp in the middle of animal territory
receives an unwanted visitor. Who is crossing whose border?.
Earth, Wind and Fire Water
Dan Reeves, HR information adviser & International History project administrator from the Department
of Human Resources and International History.
Nature’s borders of Earth, Wind and ‘Fire Water’, Wai-O-Tapu geothermal ‘Champaign Pool’, North
Island New Zealand. Earth borders of solid Arsenic, mineral Gold and Silver, against a wind of
bubbling Carbon Dioxide; set in thermal ‘fire Water’ at 230 degrees centigrade. Not a border to be
crossed!
Entering the forbidden space
Amena Amer, a postgraduate student from the Institute of Social Psychology.
On DayX3 of protests on cuts in education spending and tuition fees increases, a young man jumps
over metal railings that had been pulled down by protesters. The railings had surrounded Parliament
Square Green, creating a barrier preventing protesters from treading on the grass.
Far Away
Emilie Courtin, a research assistant from the Department of Social Policy.
This photo was taken during a touristic boat trip in Cambodia. The living conditions and the future of
the population seemed so dreadful that it was impossible to get any closer, no matter what I tried. Due
to our respective positions, our paths just crossed and we never actually met. No border was crossed
this day.
Glacial Borderline
Dan Reeves, HR information adviser & international history project administrator from the Department
of Human Resources and International History.
Tourists cross the vast ‘natural border’ of Franz Joseph Glacier on foot and helicopter, South Island
New Zealand. Franz Joseph’s scale highlights nature’s formidable barrier to ‘man’, at a time when
climate change impacts the advance and retreat of this ‘border zone’.
Humor Crosses Borders
Julia Huang, a postgraduate student from the Department of Anthropology.
Hasan, a Dzhungar-Mountain nomad, jokingly speaks through an archaeology camp's "PVC Phone."
Borders between lifestyles oversimplified as “traditional” and “modern” are questioned when Hasan—
who herds goats, horses, and cows—teasingly offers his sleek Samsung mobile to the foreign
archaeologists who have only a pretend plastic-tubing communication device. Despite challenges in
translating irony, humor is often the foundation for the successful cross-border exchange of ideas and
innovations.
Identity & Borders
Harshavardhan Bhat, a postgraduate student from the Department of Government.
The photo represents the uprising and human connection to “national identities”. Sometimes they lead
to the creation of new borders. New borders are created, new borders are crossed and these lines are
embedded into the human experience. As Kosovars around the world raise their new flag in glory to
their new country, they face new challenges. Location: Istanbul, Turkey (2010)
La France Black-Blanc-Beurre
Alexandra Hitter Beauchemin, a postgraduate student from the Department of Social Policy.
A beholder of France’s new generation. The growing presence of interculturality drove some to change
the blue-white-red flag into a “black-blanc-beurre” (black-white-butter) anthem as to represent different
skin colour and origins united in the streets of large cities making everyday a cultural border crossing
without leaving the neighbourhood.
Lighthouse, Ponta de Sagres
Alison Segal, widening participation coordinator with the ARD/Student Recruitment Office.
The image reflects ‘Crossing Borders’ in several ways:
1)
2)
The fact that the lighthouse took the place of a convent symbolizes the transition from an
inward-looking society dominated by religion to an outward-oriented one, built on trade and
exploration;
From this point Prince Henry the Navigator launched Portugal onto the seas of exploration by
establishing a 15th century training school for mariners such as Vasco da Gamma, Magellan,
Diaz and Cabral;
As a protector of international trade, the lighthouse can be seen as facilitator and defender of border
crossing and globalization more generally.
New Year’s storm
Daniel Bear, a PhD student from the Department of Social Policy.
2008 started off with a storm so intense that ancient Redwood trees were pulled from their roots many
miles up the coast, and washed up along the flooded beach in Santa Cruz, California. We crossed into
the new year reminded clearly of nature’s power and our own insignificance.
No Title 1
Evangelos (Vangelis) Georgas, a postgraduate student from the Department of Sociology.
Building/Void, fact/fiction.
No Title 2
Evangelos (Vangelis) Georgas, a postgraduate student from the Department of Sociology.
Land/sea, fact/fiction.
Of vision over visibility
Agnieszka Chrakowiecka, a postgraduate student from the Department of Economic History.
She lost her baby boy. The vision of becoming pregnant was remote, scary. It became invisibility.
Despite the pain, she put it behind and carried her life. Within time she became stronger. This strength
helped her cross the border of vision over visibility. Now, 2 years later, she became a mother.
Oil Invasion
Theodore Worcester, an undergraduate student from the Department of Economic History.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline penetrates one of the most fragile, unscathed regions in the world. It is a
glaring sign of man pillaging earth to aggressively expand world consumption.
Pic 3
Nurhafizah Mohd Yusof, an undergraduate student from the Department of Accounting and Finance.
Crossing the borders of illusion and reality.
Pink is the New Green in Tian’anmen Square
Edyta Materka, a PhD student from the Department of Geography and Environment.
A modern Chinese woman entering versus traditional Chinese men leaving ‘the picture’ in China’s
national square (July 2007).
Portraits
Xiaoyue Zhao, a postgraduate student from the Department of Media & Communications.
This photo expresses distinct faces at a ferryboat on Yangtze River. The mirror is a physical border to
separate individuals and reflect them, blurred or clear. Individuals are different in such a huge China,
and who can define and represent them simply?
Rest Between Shifts
Scott Naysmith, a postgraduate student from the Department of Social Policy.
Domestic demand for poultry and eggs in Indonesia is largely met by a handful of commercial
producers. Many hands will come in contact with these products before they are ultimately consumed.
Here, a young man rests after transporting eggs from Medan to Aceh. His father, mother and brother
work in the adjoining room, sorting the eggs in order to resell them at local markets in Aceh.
Sea Forts. Red Sands, off Whitstable
Max Nathan, a PhD student and a research fellow, ‘LSE cities’ from the Department of Geography and
Environment.
These Maunsell Sea Forts were constructed around the English coast during WWII, to defend UK
borders against a German invasion that never came. Now abandoned to rust, they defend a border
that – thanks to the internet, the channel tunnel and cheap air travel – matters less and less.
Securing a new international border
Mareike Schomerus, a PhD student from the Department of International Development.
An illegal photo, taken through a car window: a tank of the southern Sudan army on its way to be
stationed at the north-south border in anticipation of border skirmishes when the south of Sudan
declares its independence.
Some like it cold
Fraser Ward, an undergraduate student from the Department of Anthropology.
Three girls play in the sub-zero waters of Croyde in Devon. I think for anyone going into freezing cold
English water in mid-winter wearing naught but a bikini is crossing a physical and mental border or
barrier, especially for ladies. Note the fresh snowy peaks in the background.
The Devil’s Cellar
Jaymal Nathwani, an undergraduate student from the Department of Economics.
Photo taken in the famous cellar at the Concho y Toro vineyard in Santiago, Chile – From here one of
the most famous wine brands forged it’s legend and people both cross borders to come and see it, and
the wine in this picture ends up all over the world.
The LRA is gone. The doctor is in.
Will Plowright, a postgraduate student from the Department of Government.
This photo represents the cross border nature of both conflict and refugee movements. These
Ugandan and Sudanese women have converged on one refugee camp in order to receive
psychological support due to prior torture by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Title is a quote from a
doctor.
The Market
Scott Naysmith, a postgraduate student from the Department of Social Policy.
Policy makers and politicians are increasingly concerned with the ease with which infectious diseases
transfer between animals and humans. One of the most alarming diseases to cross over has been bird
flu. In many parts of the world, traditional markets have been labelled the source of disease, due to the
proximity of birds and people. This photo of a bird slaughterer’s work space illustrates this intimacy,
and demonstrates the challenges to effective disease containment.
The Other Side
Jens Frolich Holte, a postgraduate student from the Department of Economic History.
The Berlin Wall is probably the most iconic border of the 20th Century. It was the focal point of a
divided world. Now, this border serves as a memory of Cold War power politics. Crossing it no longer
means risking your life.
The painful bit is over, now comes the hard part; waiting.
Will
Plowright,
a
postgraduate
student
from
the
Department
of
Government.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is largely indifferent to geographic borders. These blood samples were taken
by a doctor, and await testing. Prior to returning home to refugee camps,
Sudanese/Ugandan/Congolese/Burundian refugees wait to know their status. Due to different health
care services in different countries, their HIV status could determine whether they choose to return to
their home country, stay in Uganda, or go somewhere else. Title is quote from doctor as told to a
patient.
Time and tide wait for no one
Samiha Bham, an undergraduate student from the Department of History.
Before he crossed over, a retired Omani fisherman spent his last years sitting and contemplating on
the coasts of Salalah. His deckchair still stands.
Tourists
Marigen Narea, a postgraduate research student from the Department of Social Policy.
Ethical Borders… These tourists in Jaipur (India) were taking a picture of a poor woman with her
children on the street. They paid for their picture with candies.
Water, window and light
Di Pan, a postgraduate student from the Department of Anthropology.
Sunshine, water, air… what does border means for nature?
Well Travelled
Scott Naysmith, a postgraduate student from the Department of Social Policy.
The transportation of birds provides an effective vector for transmitting bird flu and efforts to contain
the disease in Indonesia have attempted to halt this trade. Local demand, however, far outstrips local
desire for disease containment. Every day millions of birds cross myriad internal borders of Indonesia
– between provinces, districts, sub-districts and villages. These birds have come to Aceh from Medan,
the largest city in northern Sumatra.