What have we done? World Press Photo celebrates 70th anniversary with major exhibition

01 January, 1989 US invasion of Panama during Operation Just Cause. By December, General Noriega's days as president were numbered as the US responded to his declaration of war. Noriega was eventually tracked down where he had sought asylum in a Vatican embassy. (Image credit: Christopher Morris, USA, Black Star)

In 2025, World Press Photo marks a milestone few organizations can claim: seven decades of shaping how we see the world. To celebrate its 70th anniversary, the organization is opening a major exhibition, What Have We Done? Unpacking Seven Decades of World Press Photo, curated by the acclaimed artist and photographer Cristina de Middel.

The show is more than a retrospective. It is a critical exploration of the patterns, assumptions, and storytelling traditions that have governed press photography, inviting audiences to confront the images that have long shaped our understanding of global events.

The world premiere takes place on September 19, 2025, at the Niemeyerfabriek in Groningen, one of the Netherlands’ leading platforms for lens-based media. The exhibition runs until October 19, before traveling internationally to other locations yet to be announced.

01 January, 1996 An NPFL Patriotic Front fighter carries a wounded comrade to safety. In April and May excessive violence flares up. The fiercest fighting in the country's seven-year civil strife claimed some 1,500 lives, forcing most aid organizations to evacuate their workers and almost half the population to flee their homes. The situation was sparked off by the refusal to surrender of a dismissed minister and warlord supported by the Krahn ethnic group. — *01 January, 1996* An NPFL Patriotic Front fighter carries a wounded comrade to safety. In April and May excessive violence flares up. The fiercest fighting in the country's seven-year civil strife claimed some 1,500 lives, forcing most aid organizations to evacuate their workers and almost half the population to flee their homes. The situation was sparked off by the refusal to surrender of a dismissed minister and warlord supported by the Krahn ethnic group. (Image credit: Corinne Dufka, USA, Reuters)

The past seventy years of World Press Photo images are mirrors reflecting society’s biases, assumptions, and visual habits. From harrowing conflict coverage to intimate human moments, the archive has long given photographers a platform to illuminate stories that might otherwise go unseen. Yet exploring it also means confronting uncomfortable truths: which voices were underrepresented, which images reinforced stereotypes, and which decisions, however unintentional, shaped public perception in ways the press may never have anticipated.

De Middel’s exhibition asks viewers to do more than admire iconic photographs; it challenges them to rethink how they read images, to recognize recurring visual patterns, and to question why certain stories and perspectives dominate global attention, and why some do not.

Among these patterns, certain motifs recur across decades. Images of weeping women paired with men in action quietly reinforce gendered ideas of vulnerability and strength, while war photography frequently humanizes some soldiers while reducing others to symbols of aggression. At the same time, aesthetic compositions of debris and destruction risk romanticizing chaos and masking the human cost of conflict.

"01 March, 1991 Camels search for untainted shrubs and water in the burning oil fields of southern Kuwait. As his army retreated from Kuwait, at the end of the First Gulf War, Saddam Hussein ordered the ignition of the oil fields that scatter the country. The effect was an ecological disaster of unimaginable scale. Steve McCurry: 'Photographing the ecological disaster in the aftermath of the Gulf War was one of the most amazing experiences of my professional life. All of Kuwait seemed like an end-of-the-world scenario from a Hollywood production. Over 600 oil wells were on fire, turning daytime into night. The smoke was so thick that sometimes you couldn’t breathe. Animals were left to wander among the burning oil fields, looking for food and water. I followed this family of camels for about an hour in my jeep, getting out from time to time to make photographs. I guess my motivation was to show the world this tragic, needless catastrophe.' (World Press Photo retrospective Children's Jury exhibition, 2003) — *01 March, 1991* Camels search for untainted shrubs and water in the burning oil fields of southern Kuwait. As his army retreated from Kuwait, at the end of the First Gulf War, Saddam Hussein ordered the ignition of the oil fields that scatter the country. The effect was an ecological disaster of unimaginable scale. Steve McCurry: 'Photographing the ecological disaster in the aftermath of the Gulf War was one of the most amazing experiences of my professional life. All of Kuwait seemed like an end-of-the-world scenario from a Hollywood production. Over 600 oil wells were on fire, turning daytime into night. The smoke was so thick that sometimes you couldn’t breathe. Animals were left to wander among the burning oil fields, looking for food and water. I followed this family of camels for about an hour in my jeep, getting out from time to time to make photographs. I guess my motivation was to show the world this tragic, needless catastrophe.' (World Press Photo retrospective Children's Jury exhibition, 2003) (Image credit: Steve McCurry, USA, Magnum Photos for National Geographic)

The show features over 100 photographs spanning seven decades, including iconic work by Horst Faas, Don McCullin, David Chancellor, Eddie Adams, and Steve McCurry, alongside contemporary voices such as Johanna Maria Fritz and Sara Naomi Lewkowicz.

These images provide a rare opportunity to witness the evolution of visual language while reflecting on the ethical, cultural, and aesthetic choices that underpin photojournalism. Cristina de Middel describes the exhibition as an invitation to see with a sharper and more critical eye, emphasizing that if history repeats itself, the way we narrate it must evolve.

Joumana El Zein Khoury, Executive Director of World Press Photo, underscores that examining recurring visual patterns opens space for reflection and dialogue, acknowledging both the archive’s strengths and its limitations.

At seventy, World Press Photo is asking us to examine the power of photography to shape understanding and to confront what we may have overlooked. This exhibition challenges viewers to ask difficult questions: what do we choose to see, what have we been shown, and what have we done with it? Through its images, What Have We Done? is both a celebration of photography’s impact and a call to approach visual storytelling with sharper eyes and deeper awareness.

Find out more about What Have We Done? on the official World Press Photo website.

"01 January, 1989 Chaos reigns the streets at the funeral procession for the Ayatollah Khomeini, who died at the age of 89. Among the millions of mourners giving free reign to their grief, several people were crushed to death; many more fainted and suffered injuries." — *01 January, 1989* Chaos reigns the streets at the funeral procession for the Ayatollah Khomeini, who died at the age of 89. Among the millions of mourners giving free reign to their grief, several people were crushed to death; many more fainted and suffered injuries. (Image credit: Eric Bouvet, France, Gamma)

you may also like