The Visual Memory of Protest

Abstract

This chapter investigates the relationship between photojournalistic prizes, protest movements, and visual memory, focusing on the institutional work of the World Press Photo (WPP) awards in shaping the visual memory of protest over the last two decades. It offers an analysis of the WPP archive, complemented by interviews with photographers and jurors. Through exemplary cases, it highlights (dis)continuities in the content and style of protest imagery. It focuses on persistent visual motifs (e.g. shield-bearing riot police vs. protesters) and innovative authorial practices developed by award-winning photojournalists. The chapter concludes that the tensions between reiteration and innovation in the WPP's performance of value and its institutionalization of memory have repercussions for the shaping of protest imagery and its public visual memory.