Year in Pictures
The year saw joy and struggle in equal measure, and our intrepid reporters captured it all in beautiful detail.
Achham, Nepal
Sirjana carries a sack to the mill near her village in Achham district. Nepal outlawed forced isolation for menstruating women nearly two decades ago, but it is still common for women like Sirjana to stay in menstruation huts for five days while they are menstruating.
Photo by Shilu Manandhar, GPJ Nepal
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Mutare, Zimbabwe
A group of miners search for gold along the Odzi River. They use mercury, a chemical element that causes long-term side effects.
Photo by Linda Mujuru, GPJ Zimbabwe
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Puebla, Mexico
Yesica Sabino Serrano performs traditional Nahua dances with members of the Xihuetzca Ixpocatl Collective from the La Resurrección indigenous community. The group works to preserve the Náhuatl language and promote indigenous women’s empowerment.
Photo by Patricia Zavala Gutiérrez, GPJ Mexico
Umnugovi province, Mongolia
Nandin-Erdene Namkhaidogdon, 4, left, and Aminjin Otgonbaatar, 4, learn numbers from one to five at kindergarten No. 25 in Umnugovi province. Mongolian public schools resumed in-person learning in February, after approximately two years of pandemic restrictions.
Photo by Uranchimeg Tsogkhuu, GPJ Mongolia
Masaka, Uganda
Adrian Atuhairwe holds a photo of her late husband, Lubega Ramathan. Authorities say his death was the work of machete gangs that terrorized the Greater Masaka region in south-central Uganda.
Photo by Nakisanze Segawa, GPJ Uganda
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Mexico City, Mexico
Valeria García, 16, known as Leva, competes in a women-only freestyle rap tournament. Leva, who has freestyled since she was 13, traveled from northern Mexico to participate. “I decided to come to Mexico City because I was feeling very frustrated, and for me, freestyle is freeing myself,” she says.
Photo by Mar García, GPJ Mexico
Erdenet, Orkhon province, Mongolia
Contortionist Bayarzul Batbayar, 16, performs during an event in a park on World Family Day.
Photo by Khorloo Khukhnokhoi, GPJ Mongolia
Tirunelveli, Sri Lanka
Potter Muniyasami Ravikumar, left, and worker Arumugam Tharumarasa make pottery in their workshop. Even though traditional pottery in Jaffna has flourished since 2009 with the end of the country’s decades-long civil war, potters' children often don’t want to carry on the family trade.
Photo by Vijayatharsiny Thinesh, GPJ Sri Lanka
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Chiapas, Mexico
Salvador Jiménez Santiz, center, holds a cross during a funeral for Lorenzo Gómez Ruiz in Aldama, Chiapas, Mexico. In early 2022, a stray bullet killed Gómez Ruiz at age 21.
Photo by Marissa Revilla, GPJ Mexico
Muchesu, Zimbabwe
Esther Musaka smokes from a gourd in Muchesu, the village where she grew up, in the district of Binga in western Zimbabwe. Her family was displaced in the 1950s due to the construction of the Kariba Dam and now, at age 72, she faces another potential relocation as the result of a coal mining project.
Photo by Gamuchirai Masiyiwa
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Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Mackenson Elsain teaches, from left, Hancia Jocelyn, 8, Rebecca Joseph, 12, and Maïrha François, 11, a violin lesson during a summer camp.
Photo by Anne Myriam Bolivar, GPJ Haiti
Mannar, Sri Lanka
Vijayakumar Velayutham, who lost his hand when soldiers shot at him and detonated explosives he was carrying during the Sri Lankan civil war, prepares his fishing net. The growing number of men who have become dependent on alcohol, particularly illicit alcohol, in the aftermath of the conflict is putting a strain on an already limited number of rehabilitation programs.
Photo by Vetrichelvi Chandrakala, GPJ Sri Lanka
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Oaxaca, Mexico
At the Carnaval de San Martín Tilcajete, an annual pre-Lent festival in Oaxaca, an attendee wears a mask that represents the devil.
Photo by Ena Aguilar Peláez, GPJ Mexico
Kisoro, Uganda
Nyiransaba Ntawiringira, left, and Uniweza Yubu, right, care for their children on a chilly morning at the Rokeri Batwa settlement in Kisoro. Around 200 Batwa, who were evicted from their forest land in the early 1990s by the Ugandan government, live in the settlement, in the shadows of Mount Muhabura.
Photo by Edna Namara, GPJ Uganda
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Lusaka, Zambia
Edward Sakala dances to traditional drumming at the Chibwela Kumushi Ceremony of the Soli in Chinyunyu, Lusaka, Zambia. The yearly ceremony, led by Chief Bunda Bunda, signifies the beginning of the farming season.
Photo by Prudence Phiri, GPJ Zambia
Kiristhavakulam, Sri Lanka
Siventhiran Subasini, left, braids the hair of her daughter, Tharbika, 11. After two years working in the Middle East, Siventhiran is home with her family, like other overseas domestic workers.
Photo by Thayalini Indrakularasa, GPJ Sri Lanka
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Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo
Esther Wabiwa, pregnant again after losing her newborn child — delivered while fleeing violence in her home village of Fataki in May 2021 — rests in a camp for internally displaced people.
Photo by Noella Nyirabihogo
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Chihuahua, Mexico
People dance while listening to the musical group Milagro in Chihuahua's historic downtown. On Thursday through Sunday evenings, residents and visitors once again gather to dance, an activity that was put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo by Lilette A. Contreras, GPJ Mexico
Kirumba, Democratic Republic of Congo
Georges Kombi Karubandika builds a coffin in Kirumba, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. Customers traditionally bring the carpenter materials to construct the coffin, but now it has become easier to purchase a ready-made casket.
Photo by Merveille Kavira Luneghe, GPJ Democratic Republic of Congo
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Vanesa, a high school teacher, whose last name is being withheld to protect her privacy, plays with her daughter, Itzamara, 1. Vanesa, who had to cut her hours and take a 40% pay cut to be able to look after Itzamara, is waiting for a day care place months after submitting an application.
Photo by Lucila Pellettieri, GPJ Argentina
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Khatgal, Khuvsgul province, Mongolia
Purevsambuu Bold, center, drives a horse-drawn sled for ice festival attendees at Khuvsgul Lake in Khatgal, Khuvsgul province. The festival, Blue Pearl 2022, which features various winter activities, marked its 20th anniversary after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo by Dolgormaa Sandagdorj, GPJ Mongolia