In Beijing and Tokyo, I documented athletes from around the globe coming together to participate in the greatest of athletic competitions. Their backgrounds are as diverse as the countries and cultures they come from. To be eligible to compete in the Paralympic Games, an athlete must have at least one of 10 physical or intellectual impairments.
Some were born with these conditions, while others acquired them through disease or accident. But what they all have in common is the superior athletic ability and the drive to put themselves in front of the world at the Paralympics. In other words, it was not only their physical prowess but the mental fortitude that got them there.
On February 24, four days after the end of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and a week before the start of the Paralympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As a result, the dynamics completely changed for all those involved in the Games in China's capital. Initially, International Paralympics Committee President Andrew Parsons announced that the Paralympians from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete in the upcoming Paralympics. There was so much protest from the other national teams –threatening to go home or not compete against or alongside the athletes from the Russian Olympic Committee or Belarus - that the initial decision was reversed.
As a result, I decided to adjust my focus and document as part of my coverage the Ukrainian Paralympians with the incredibly heavyweight of a besieged nation upon their shoulders and undoubtedly omnipresent in their minds.
Denne historien er fra March 2022 -utgaven av Lens Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra March 2022 -utgaven av Lens Magazine.
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IN THE SHIPYARDS OF DHAKA
A very large shipyard in Dhaka is located on the Buriganga River's banks, directly across Dhaka's old city.
Aga Szydlik INDIA
A JOURNEY INTO THE LAND OF DIVERSITY, CULTURE, AND COLORS
SEBASTIAN PIÓREK EXPLORING Enjoyable LANDSCAPE
I retrieved the idea of nature closely linked to the field of human feelings.
The Extreme Macro Photography of Bees
AN INTERVIEW SAM WITH, DROEGE
JEAN KAROTKIN GYMNOPEDIES
Gymnopédies, Karotkin's ongoing series of botanical portraits, takes its name from a trio of piano compositions by 19th-century French composer Erik Satie.
BUTTERFLIES IN LOVE WITH FLOWERS
I sometimes think Chinese art is not fully appreciated in the West. I was exposed to it growing up in Australia, although my fascination was more with calligraphy.
Lissa Hahn:
Hahn: HOW TO EVOKE A PAVLOVIAN RESPONSE IN HUMANS
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ELENA PARASKEVA
Elena Paraskeva is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning Conceptual Photographer and Art Director and, most recently, an official ADOBE instructor.
From a Living Hell to Heaven on Earth: the Inhumanity and Humanity of Humans
In a remote area of western Wisconsin, dogs and cats who otherwise would have ended up on death row are given a reprieve. They can now live out their lives in peace and comfort and with companionship at Home for Life (HFL), which was not afforded them outside the sanctuary's gates.
The Art of DISAPPEARING
In the classical proposal, indigenous people are usually the topic of discussion, but rarely do they have a hand in shaping it.
