We are excited to announce the winner of the 2021 Alliance climate themed photography competition.
The portrait below entitled ‘Jennifer Waits’ was submitted by the Climate Challenge Malawi Programme and was taken by Colin Hattersley.
This photo is clearly powerful and emotive, but it was chosen as this year’s winner not only for its photographic quality; it was also selected because Jennifer’s story and the work of CCPM speak directly to the one of theme of this year’s competition: to celebrate responses to the climate crisis.
The photo’s caption explains that Jennifer Simbi, a farmer and mother of two in Chikwawa, has found a new and exciting response to erratic weather patterns caused by the climate crisis. Working with others in her community, she switched from growing Maize to a crop called sorghum, which is a much more resilient crop, and has provided them better crop yields and increased food security. Because of climate change, the rains are inconsistent in Malawi. Tougher crops like this that can resist flood and drought.
This image will sit alongside over 60 other images and short films as part of a new digital exhibition about the impacts of the climate crisis on people and communities across the world launching later this month. Find out more about the exhibition here.
About CCPM
The Climate Challenge Programme Malawi (CCPM) is a Scottish Government initiative that helps nearly 50’000 people in southern Malawi adapt to the impact of climate change. Administered by SCIAF it works with communities to identify and implement solutions to the climate challenges they face, with a particular focus to helping the most vulnerable, including women and girls, and promoting human rights. The CCPM provides a clear example of climate justice in action, recognising that people who are the first to be affected by climate change, and will suffer the most have done the least to cause the problem.
About the photographer
Colin Hatersley is a Scotland-based photographer with over 30 years’ experience in photography across a range of sectors in the UK and internationally. With a background in press photography, he puts extra emphasis on ‘narrative’ in his pictures – whether it’s a portrait or an action picture – to tell people’s stories about the life they’re experiencing and what drives them to do what they do.