In times of visual saturation and stories shaped by algorithms, photojournalism retains an irreplaceable power: that of looking with humanity. The 36th Annual Argentine Photojournalism Exhibition, organized by the Association of Graphic Reporters of the Argentine Republic (ARGRA)he remembers it forcefully again. More than 150 images, selected from around 2,500 sent by professionals from all over the country, make up a visual tour of the most significant events of 2024: the political protests and the traces of the social crisis, but also the glimpses of daily life, culture and nature.
Mounted on the House of Mothers, in the Memory and Human Rights Space (former ESMA)the exhibition not only celebrates 36 years of collective work, but also reaffirms the commitment of a generation of photographers who continue to put their body (and the camera) to work.
The collective view
Every year, the exhibition works as a great visual mosaic of the country. A memory exercise built by dozens of reporters who, from different parts of Argentina, record what happens on the street, in stadiums, on stages and in everyday life. “Each sample is unique and necessary as a historical memory of the period that passes through it,” he explains. Sebastián Vricella, president of the association.
The selection of the 150 images that make up this edition was the result of a collective and anonymous process. The committee was made up of Alejandra Bartoliche, Osvaldo Marcarian, Germán Adrasti, Caro Dumas and Marta Strasnoy. “It was hard work: there were excellent photos, many repeated, and we argued a lot to decide which ones deserved to be there. But we agreed on something: each photo documents a fact and, in doing so, becomes part of history,” says Strasnoy, the first Argentine photojournalist.
For Vricella, that spirit of collaboration is what distinguishes the exhibition from others in the world. “Every journalistic record is authorial, but the feature that defines us is collective construction. In the exhibition, plurality of views takes precedence over individual vision“, he maintains. Beyond the issues that dominate the public agenda, what persists, as a constant in each edition, is the intention to document. To leave a record, even when the context challenges the continuity of the trade. “Each photo is documenting the event that happens at the moment. That is the function of the photojournalist and the importance is to show a reality that later remains in history,” says Strasnoy.
The pulse of the year
“The emotions that predominate in this edition are anger and resistance,” analyzes Guido Piotrkowski, photojournalist and member of the ARGRA board of directors. His words summarize the climate that runs through a good part of the images chosen for the exhibition, especially those that record the 2024 demonstrations (the marches against the Omnibus Law and the protests on Retiree Wednesdays), scenes that multiplied throughout the year and marked the public agenda.
For the first time, the organizing committee opened a special call to gather photographs linked to these episodes, outside the traditional categories. “A lot of photos were received, and part of that selection is displayed in a mural and another in projection,” explains Piotrkowski. “Seeing them all together is very impressive: they reflect a moment that was the beginning of something that still continues.”
Along with those images of social tensionthe exhibition includes intimate portraits, cultural records and landscapes from different provinces. The thematic and stylistic variety reaffirms the breadth of views that characterizes Argentine photojournalism, capable of combining testimony, sensitivity with a vocation for archiving.
The job in transformation
In times of artificial intelligence, cell phone cameras and social networks, the place of photojournalism is redefined without losing its relevance. This year’s exhibition reflects this tension between technological immediacy and the human gaze. In a context where anyone can capture an image, the challenge is to maintain the quality, meaning and ethics of the record. “Our added value is not the construction of a story imposed through technology, but direct testimony,” explains Vricella. What the public will see, he adds, is that “human gaze” that turns photography into an essential visual language.
Beyond the technique or the tools, what is at stake is the possibility of telling the present from experience, commitment and sensitivity. In this gesture of looking, recording and sharing the essence of a craft is condensed that, more than three decades later, continues to be a form of active memory.
The exhibition can be visited until November 20, with free admission. Furthermore, within the framework of Museum Nighton Saturday the 8th multimedia works will be projected, and on the 12th there will be a talk-debate on photojournalism with the participation of Taty Almeida and Sebastián Vricella. In all cases, an invitation to look carefully in a time that accelerates everything.
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