İstanbul Photo Awards 2026 exhibition opens in Rome

By Baris Seckin and Gizem Nisa Demir

ROME/ISTANBUL (AA) - The second exhibition of the İstanbul Photo Awards 2026, organized by Anadolu, opened on Thursday in Rome, bringing more than 50 award-winning photographs from the international competition to Italian audiences.

After the first exhibition in Ankara, the show opened at Il Portale Ostiense, an exhibition and event venue. The opening ceremony drew distinguished guests from the diplomatic, media, cultural, artistic and business communities.

Attendees included Anadolu CEO Serdar Karagoz; Elif Comoglu Ulgen, Türkiye's ambassador to Rome; Fahrettin Altun, Türkiye's ambassador to the Vatican; Issa Kassissieh, Palestine's ambassador to the Vatican; Ermek Omuraliev, Kyrgyzstan's ambassador to Rome; Ammar M. Dawood, charge d'affaires at Iraq's Embassy to the Vatican; Mustafa Kemal Beyazbayram, representative of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in Rome; Yahya Bostan, Anadolu’s academy and publications coordinator; and Rodolfo Cardarelli, international marketing director of Italian news agency ANSA.

- Photography records history and reveals truth

Addressing the ceremony, Karagoz said Anadolu was pleased to bring the exhibition to Rome, one of the world's most important cities for its history and art.

He noted that people have used art for centuries to tell their stories and leave their mark on history, and photography continues this tradition today.

"Photography records the era we live in, shows the world as it is and helps us understand the lives of others. That is what makes photography so important," he said.

Emphasizing the role of photographers in bringing stories to light, Karagoz said: "Through İstanbul Photo Awards, we aim to make stories visible and share different aspects of the truth with the world.

"We want to support photographers who have the courage to show the world as it is, and the determination to bring these stories to the world."

- Competition received 19,000 photographs this year

Karagoz said approximately 22,000 photographers have submitted more than 207,000 photographs to İstanbul Photo Awards since its launch in 2015.

"Just this year, we received 19,000 photographs from all over the world. These figures show how İstanbul Photo Awards has evolved into an important international competition," he said.

He stressed that photography was about more than taking pictures, describing it as a way to document history and reveal the truth.

Photographs, he added, help people understand why events matter, while the responsibilities of photojournalists become particularly significant in wars and genocides.

- Gaza photograph named Photo of the Year

Karagoz said the 2026 contest's international jury had selected a photograph from Gaza as the Photo of the Year.

The photograph, taken by Palestinian photographer Haitam Imad for EPA, is titled Gaza, No Hope. It shows a two-year-old girl named Sham Qudeih at Nasser Hospital in Gaza.

"She was struggling with severe hunger and illnesses. At the time, she weighed only 4 kilograms. Her condition laid bare the terrible human cost of the war in Gaza," he said. "After the photograph was taken, the little girl was brought to Naples, Italy, for medical treatment. We are very happy to learn that she is now recovering."

Karagoz said Sham's story represented the suffering of many other children in Gaza who continued to endure dire conditions.

"Little Sham had the opportunity to receive treatment, but many more children in Gaza are still suffering. We need more stories of hope from Gaza. Above all, we need to see the genocide in Gaza come to an end.

"Until that day comes, I will continue to report the facts, show the situation on the ground and tell the stories of civilians in Gaza.

"Because the world has the right to know what is happening in Gaza: civilians losing their lives in Israeli attacks, children struggling with hunger and disease," he said.

Karagoz emphasized that the world must recognize the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and ensure that these realities are never forgotten.

He also thanked ANSA, Anadolu's partner in Italy, Ambassador Comoglu Ulgen, Ambassador Altun and the exhibition's sponsors for their support in bringing the photographs to international audiences.

- Exciting moment for Italians and Turks

Türkiye's ambassador to Rome Comoglu Ulgen said Anadolu was holding an exhibition of this kind in Rome for the first time, and expressed hope that it would become a regular event.

"I believe this will not be the last exhibition here. I hope this exhibition will mark the beginning of a process that will now become a tradition," she said.

Noting that İstanbul Photo Awards exhibitions had previously been held in several major capitals around the world, Ulgen said bringing the exhibition to Rome at this particular moment was significant for both Turkish and Italian audiences.

"The opening of this important exhibition in Rome today, at this very moment, is extremely exciting for every Turkish citizen living in Italy, as well as for Italians, photography enthusiasts and those who follow news photography," she said.

Ulgen described Anadolu as an institution of the Republic of Türkiye, which will celebrate its 103rd anniversary next week.

Founded during the period when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was leading the struggle for Türkiye's independence, the agency continued to develop under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, becoming a news organization regarded as a reference not only in Türkiye but also across the wider region, Europe and the world, she said.

Recalling her time as ambassador to South Africa, Ulgen shared a message she had received from a Black South African man in reference to a speech by Erdogan at the UN General Assembly.

"People are suffering all over the world. Regardless of our religion, skin color or eye color, the tears that flow from our eyes are always the same color," the message said.

Reflecting on the shared human suffering represented in the exhibition, Ulgen said: "Here, in this room, I see that we all feel that pain. Whether tears flow from our eyes or we hold them inside, we all share the same pain."

- Istanbul and Rome meet through photography

Altun, the Turkish envoy to the Vatican, said he was delighted to host İstanbul Photo Awards and bring a part of Istanbul to Rome.

"It is a particular pleasure for me to host İstanbul Photo Awards here and witness a piece of Istanbul being brought to this magnificent city," he said.

Describing Istanbul and Rome as cities of memories shaped by great empires, peoples and cultures, Altun said the exhibition once again brought the two cities together through photography. "Tonight, once again, Istanbul and Rome meet through photography," he said.

Altun said the photographs invited visitors to pause, look more carefully and reflect deeply on the world they inhabit. "What we are opening today is not just an exhibition; we are opening a window onto our world," he said.

He described looking as a matter of choice and photography as a means of making that choice visible and accessible. The images on display covered a wide range of subjects, including Gaza, Syria, Ukraine, the environment, sports and the debris humanity has left in outer space.

Referring to the selection of a photograph about Gaza as this year's Photo of the Year, Altun said its power lay in its ability to place human beings at the center of geopolitics.

"This is a remarkable photograph. I believe its power comes from something very simple: It places the human being at the center of geopolitics. Geopolitics shows us borders, while photography shows us the people beyond those borders," he said.

- Gaza images serve as testimony to history

Altun said the international community had a greater responsibility to look at what was happening in Gaza.

"What we see in Gaza is an unmistakable human tragedy in which human life is systematically placed under siege, hunger is turned into a tool of genocide and civilians are killed on a massive scale. That is why these images are not merely records of suffering; they are also documents bearing witness before history.

"The image of a two-year-old child in her mother's arms takes us beyond statistics, strategies and geopolitics and brings us back to individual human life," he said.

Altun added that photography could restore a human dimension to the way people viewed the world, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the work of photojournalists.

Following the speeches, Aykut Unlupinar, Anadolu's director of visual news, and Baris Seckin, Anadolu's Rome correspondent, guided guests through the exhibition and provided information about the winning photographs from 2026.

The exhibition in Rome will remain open to visitors through Oct. 30.

Turkcell is the competition's communications sponsor this year, while the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) supports overseas events and Turkish Airlines (THY) provides partial transportation sponsorship.

Barış Seçkin