Interview with Agnes Gregoire, editor of PHOTO magazine, on the theme for this year’s ICC Photographic Award

Do you have in mind an existing picture that you think captures the challenges and/or solutions to SDG 4: Quality Education?

Agnes Gregoire: A host of images come to me when I think of education to sustainably improve the world! “Where Children Sleep” by the British photojournalist James Mollison comes to my mind spontaneously. These are a collection of diptychs where we see a portrait of a child and her room, in the United States, Kenya, in Tokyo, Haiti, Russia, Brazil, France…. all over the world. Mollison hopes his photographs will encourage children to think about inequality. And it works!

Why are you particularly committed to SDG 4: Quality Education or what does SDG 4 mean to you?

AG: Because it’s the key! Education is the key to combat economic and cultural scourges worldwide. The key to more equality, more humanity, less intolerance. This is the key to sustainable development.

Education is the key to combat economic and cultural scourges worldwide. The key to more equality, more humanity, less intolerance. This is the key to sustainable development.

How do you think publications like PHOTO Magazine can contribute towards the SDGs?

AG: Ask the new generation! PHOTO shows the best of what is happening in photography in all fields. Photography is a language that young people today use a lot. We are here to explain the grammar but also its pitfalls. To decrypt. A photograph has the power to trigger emotions but also to raise awareness.

Has there been an image in the past year that communicated the theme of People Planet?

AG: I will not choose an image but a festival. Visa pour l’Image, the premier International Festival of Photojournalism held in Perpignan, France, annually draws a portrait of the world and its people. It is uncompromising but so necessary.

A photograph has the power to trigger emotions but also to raise awareness.

What are you looking for in this year’s entries? What are the criteria for a winning photograph for #People Planet?

AG: Suprise me!

Deadline for submission is 28 October 2016

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