Senegalese Wrestlers

The work of Denis Rouvre, who won second place in sports features in the World Press Photo Awards for his work on Senegalese wrestlers.

All images by Denis Rouvre.

Two weeks ago the results of the World Press Awards were announced. The prize winners included a number of striking images about and by Africans.

Most of the attention has focused on the Malian, Malick Sidibe, who won first prize in the arts and entertainment category for a spread that appeared in The New York Times Magazine last year.

Other winners include Francesco Giusti, who won second prize in the same category for his photos of Congolese sapeurs; Farah Abdi Warsameh from Somalia, second prize in the general news; and Stefano De Luigi from Italy for his shots droughts in Kenya, second place in contemporary issues-singles.

For me, however, the most striking pictures are those by Denis Rouvre of France, who won second place in sports features for his work on Senegalese wrestlers.

Here’s two of the images from the series.

You can view the full series on his website.

Further Reading

After Paul Biya

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Leapfrogging literacy?

In outsourcing the act of writing to machines trained on Western language and thought, we risk reinforcing the very hierarchies that decolonization sought to undo.

Repoliticizing a generation

Thirty-eight years after Thomas Sankara’s assassination, the struggle for justice and self-determination endures—from stalled archives and unfulfilled verdicts to new calls for pan-African renewal and a 21st-century anti-imperialist front.

Drip is temporary

The apparel brand Drip was meant to prove that South Africa’s townships could inspire global style. Instead, it revealed how easily black success stories are consumed and undone by the contradictions of neoliberal aspiration.

Energy for whom?

Behind the fanfare of the Africa Climate Summit, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline shows how neocolonial extraction still drives Africa’s energy future.