Sony World Photography Awards Creative and Still Life Finalists 2025

Throughout history, 117 billion humans have gazed at the same moon, yet only 24 people – all American men – have seen its surface up close. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the artist discovered an application for the ultimate art residency: dearMoon. In 2018, Japanese billionaire and art collector Yusaku Maezawa announced a global search for eight artists to join him on a week-long lunar mission aboard SpaceX’s Starship – the first civilian mission to deep space. The mission's flight path would echo that of Apollo 8’s 1968 journey, which famously led astronaut Bill Anders to suggest NASA ‘should have sent poets’ to capture the sense of wonder he experienced. In 2021, Rhiannon Adam was chosen as the only female crew member from one million applicants, with the chance to achieve the seemingly impossible. For three years she immersed herself in the space industry, until, in June 2024, Maezawa abruptly cancelled the mission, leaving the crew to pick up the pieces of their disrupted lives. (Photo: Rhiannon Adam, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional competition, Creative, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

A collaboration between two practitioners – a photojournalist and a photographic artist – created by manipulating photographs of traditional colonial objects in museum and public spaces through ‘corrupt processes’ of restoration techniques. Materials such as gold leaf, varnish, wax-resin, archival glue, spit, polish and lacquering have been applied to large format negatives that are juxtaposed with the original documentation, subverting the notion of fixing or restoring. The resulting works are presented as diptychs, with the images paired with critical text quoted from a range of influential research sources. The photographers explain ‘the goal of this intervention is to challenge the toxic inheritance of the plunder of the colonial era by the agents of former imperial powers who took and sold their bounty to museums and private collections. Many of those relics are now the subject of a worldwide debate on reparation and restitution, a conversation that this project is aspiring to join.’ (Photo: Julio Etchart & Holly Birtles, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional competition, Creative, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

A collaboration between two practitioners – a photojournalist and a photographic artist – created by manipulating photographs of traditional colonial objects in museum and public spaces through ‘corrupt processes’ of restoration techniques. Materials such as gold leaf, varnish, wax-resin, archival glue, spit, polish and lacquering have been applied to large format negatives that are juxtaposed with the original documentation, subverting the notion of fixing or restoring. The resulting works are presented as diptychs, with the images paired with critical text quoted from a range of influential research sources. The photographers explain ‘the goal of this intervention is to challenge the toxic inheritance of the plunder of the colonial era by the agents of former imperial powers who took and sold their bounty to museums and private collections. Many of those relics are now the subject of a worldwide debate on reparation and restitution, a conversation that this project is aspiring to join.’ (Photo: Julio Etchart & Holly Birtles, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional competition, Creative, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

In April 2022, Irina Shkoda left Ukraine for France. As a refugee, she entered a culture that was entirely foreign to her, which required her to adapt, to speak a new language, to submit to new rules: to lose parts of herself in order to be accepted. Through this project, she explores her personal experience of hospitality, both given and received. According to the philosopher Jacques Derrida, hospitality has a dual aspect: ethical and political. It includes a power dynamic and an underlying violence. The guest – by their presence – imposes an Otherness that can unsettle or even transform their host. To make space in one’s home is to risk no longer being at home. Yet hospitality also holds the potential to transcend these tensions. It is an act of courage and faith – a gesture that dares to imagine unity despite all odds. Concepts in psychology highlight that boundaries are essential for preserving our integrity, but welcoming The Other is to open those boundaries, even if just for a moment. How can we trust, despite everything, The Other who surpasses us? How can we let The Other in, knowing we may never understand? (Photo: Irina Shkoda, Ukraine, Finalist, Professional competition, Creative, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

In April 2022, Irina Shkoda left Ukraine for France. As a refugee, she entered a culture that was entirely foreign to her, which required her to adapt, to speak a new language, to submit to new rules: to lose parts of herself in order to be accepted. Through this project, she explores her personal experience of hospitality, both given and received. According to the philosopher Jacques Derrida, hospitality has a dual aspect: ethical and political. It includes a power dynamic and an underlying violence. The guest – by their presence – imposes an Otherness that can unsettle or even transform their host. To make space in one’s home is to risk no longer being at home. Yet hospitality also holds the potential to transcend these tensions. It is an act of courage and faith – a gesture that dares to imagine unity despite all odds. Concepts in psychology highlight that boundaries are essential for preserving our integrity, but welcoming The Other is to open those boundaries, even if just for a moment. How can we trust, despite everything, The Other who surpasses us? How can we let The Other in, knowing we may never understand? (Photo: Irina Shkoda, Ukraine, Finalist, Professional competition, Creative, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

Still Waiting presents collages that capture moments of pause, of waiting. They depict the liminal space between events, a threshold where time seems to stretch, and meanings remain unfixed. The juxtaposition of objects within the space leaves room for interpretation, inviting surreal flights of thought. Everything is suspended, held in a fragile equilibrium where intervention feels imminent. Just fractions of a second away from some decisive action, the images linger in a fleeting moment of stillness, a breath before the world moves again. (Photo: Peter Franck, Germany, Finalist, Professional competition, Still Life, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

Still Waiting presents collages that capture moments of pause, of waiting. They depict the liminal space between events, a threshold where time seems to stretch, and meanings remain unfixed. The juxtaposition of objects within the space leaves room for interpretation, inviting surreal flights of thought. Everything is suspended, held in a fragile equilibrium where intervention feels imminent. Just fractions of a second away from some decisive action, the images linger in a fleeting moment of stillness, a breath before the world moves again. (Photo: Peter Franck, Germany, Finalist, Professional competition, Still Life, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

This photo story examines the murals made during the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina, former prime minister of Bangladesh, whose government reportedly spent more than US$3 million installing murals of her father and other family members across the country. This series captures a fragile, emotional time that the photographer explains ‘reflected the rejection of her rule by the masses and their longing for a new beginning in Bangladesh in 2024.’ (Photo: K M Asad, Bangladesh, Finalist, Professional competition, Still Life, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

This photo story examines the murals made during the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina, former prime minister of Bangladesh, whose government reportedly spent more than US$3 million installing murals of her father and other family members across the country. This series captures a fragile, emotional time that the photographer explains ‘reflected the rejection of her rule by the masses and their longing for a new beginning in Bangladesh in 2024.’ (Photo: K M Asad, Bangladesh, Finalist, Professional competition, Still Life, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

The fragile Wadden Sea is one of Europe’s last true wilderness areas. This immense wetland was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009, and it was here, in the late 19th century, that modern ecology was born. Today, threatened by climate change, it has become a living laboratory for innovative eco-sustainable practices, as scientists grapple with the pressing challenges of the future. How can we adapt to rising sea levels? How can we protect native species? How can we reduce the impact of fishing and agriculture? How can we promote ever more responsible tourism? (Photo: Alessandro Gandolfi, Italy, Finalist, Professional competition, Still Life, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards)

The fragile Wadden Sea is one of Europe’s last true wilderness areas. This immense wetland was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009, and it was here, in the late 19th century, that modern ecology was born. Today, threatened by climate change, it has become a living laboratory for innovative eco-sustainable practices, as scientists grapple with the pressing challenges of the future. How can we adapt to rising sea levels? How can we protect native species? How can we reduce the impact of fishing and agriculture? How can we promote ever more responsible tourism? (Photo: Alessandro Gandolfi, Italy, Finalist, Professional competition, Still Life, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards).DM