Overall winner of the WAME Energy SELF Portraits contest
From 21st November 2020 till 30th April 2021, WAME has, through the Energy SELF Portraits contest, collected over 300 SELF portraits from all over the world documenting different dimensions of SDG7 such as energy access, its costs and options, its quality, its environmental implications as well as how energy efficiency and renewable energy may offer solutions to the SDG7 challenge.
Energy is an enabler of many of the other SDGs and special emphasis has been given to stories that highlight the particular role of energy in education as we have observed over the last year and a half how the CORONA-19 global pandemic has caused the largest disruption of education in history affecting around 1.6 billion students in 190 countries. While the pandemic has on the one hand resulted in innovative approaches to education including the use of radio, TV and online distance learning, it has also demonstrated that lack of resources, energy included, leaves the vulnerable behind, further widening inequality both within nations and on a global scale.
“The crisis is exacerbating pre-existing education disparities by reducing the opportunities for many of the most vulnerable children, youth, and adults – those living in poor or rural areas, girls, refugees, persons with disabilities and forcibly displaced persons – to continue their learning”
Thanks to the help of our distinguished Jury, we have selected 15 winners of the contest and one overall winner (photograph above).
The Jury includes the following members:
- Swetha RaviKumar Bhagwat, Head of Florence School of Regulation - Global
- Sherry Kennedy, Director of Communications for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)
- Luca Locatelli, environmental photographer and filmmaker
- Kip Patrick, Senior Director of Advocacy and Communications at the Clean Cooking Alliance
- Kristina Skierka, CEO of Power for All
- Fabrizio Trisoglio, Scientific Responsible at Fondazione AEM
Next steps: Energy Portraits bringing “Energy Messages” to Glasgow 2021
To complement the documentation of the real energy situation on the ground, and as a bottom-up contribution to the UN Agenda 2030 and climate process, WAME has at the conclusion of the Energy SELF Portraits contest launched a call for “Energy Messages” from people from all spheres of life and all geographical locations. Students in high-schools and university, ministers, immigrants, factory workers and industry stakeholders, absolutely everyone has an “Energy Message” or “Energy Wish” and we want to collect these and bring them to COP26 in Glasgow, so that the voices of everyone can be heard at this critical event for humanity and the planet we live on. We want the decision makes to know what is important to the people, the obstacles they are confronting, and the solutions they have designed. The format will be slightly different as it is composed of a simple self-portrait (selfie) accompanied by a personal message to be brought to the political leaders of COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.
While Energy Messages are collected from around the world, Marco Garofalo will get back on the road and will continue to build on his professional Energy Portraits photographic collection. He will focus on European countries, including Italy, Benelux, Poland, Denmark and Portugal, and will strive to highlight the efforts that individuals, communities, public and private bodies are making in delivering a modern and effective energy transition in Europe.
The Energy Portraits, complemented by the Energy SELF Portraits and the Energy Messages, will be on display in exhibition areas at:
Clean Energy Ministerial 12, virtual event hosted by Government of Chile, May/June 2021
We Are Humans - Cortona on the Move, Cortona, Italy, July/October 2021
Pre-COP26, Milan, Italy, September/October 2021
COP26, Glasgow, UK, November 2021(tbc)
The collection of photographs and captions will culminate with the publication of a photo-book by Mondadori Electa at the end of 2021 concluding the Energy Portraits contribution to the United Nations Agenda 2030 and Climate Agreement.
Follow the Energy Portraits project on: www.energyportraits.org