world press photo

With constant fidelity, the Azzedine Alaïa Gallery presents once again the images that received the World Press Photo 2012. An opportunity to review the events that marked 2011, from the Arab revolutions to the tsunami in Japan, through the best signatures of photojournalism.

Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda won the World Press Photo Award for a photograph taken in Yemen of a woman wearing a full veil and holding her injured son. Published by the New York Times, it was taken on 15 October 2011 in Sanaa, in a mosque converted into a hospital by opponents of President Saleh.

Fatima al-Qaws cradles her son Zayed (18), who is suffering from the effects of tear gas after participating in a street demonstration, in Sanaa, Yemen, on 15 October. Ongoing protests against the 33-year-long regime of authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh escalated that day. Witnesses said that thousands marched down Zubairy Street, a main city thoroughfare, and were fired on when they reached a government checkpoint near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Some demonstrators retreated, others carried on and were shot at again. At least 12 people were killed and some 30 injured. Ms Qaws—who was herself involved in resistance to the regime—found her son after a second visit to look for him, among the wounded at a mosque that was being used as a temporary field hospital. Zayed remained in a coma for two days after the incident. He was injured on two further occasions, as demonstrations continued. On 23 November, President Saleh flew to Saudi Arabia, and signed an agreement transferring power to his deputy, Abdurabu Mansur Hadi. Saleh’s rule ended formally when Hadi was sworn in as president, following an election, on 25 February 2012.

Samuel Aranda was born in 1979 in Santa Coloma de Gramanet, Barcelona, Spain. When he was 19, he began working as a photojournalist for El Pais and El Periodico de Catalunya.

A few years later, he traveled to the Middle East to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the Spanish agency EFE. In 2004, he joined Agence France-Presse, covering multiple conflicts and social issues in Spain, Pakistan, Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestinian Territories, Morocco and Western Sahara.

In 2006, Aranda won the Spanish National Award of Photography from the photojournalist association ANIGP-TV for a feature about African immigrants trying to reach Europe. In 2011, Aranda began ongoing coverage of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. His work on this issue, thus far, has been displayed in an exhibition at the Cervantes Institute in New York and featured on the 2011 photos of the year by The New York Times. At the moment, Aranda works as a freelancer for The New York Times and El Magazine de La Vanguardia, among others.

Aranda is currently based in Tunisia and is represented by Corbis Images.