British photographer Jo Kearney has been crowned Overall Winner of the World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Tenderstem® and awarded the prize of £5,000 (GBP) for her tender image ‘A Woman Eats in the Canteen of the Soviet-era Sanatorium’.
A South African photographer has triumphed on the global stage at the prestigious World Food Photography Awards, standing out amongst nearly 9,000 entries submitted from over 50 countries.
At a star-studded gala evening at London’s Mall Galleries, South African visual artist Louhani Els claimed a "Highly Commended" distinction in the intensely competitive Cake Award category. Her poignant work, titled Food Altar - Sardines and my Dad, struck a deeply emotional chord with an international panel of judges that included South Africa’s own Michelin-starred chef, Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen.
Els’s evocative photograph translates American poet Tori Derricotte’s poem My Dad and Sardines into a visual narrative of grief and healing.
"This artwork portrays a daughter’s reconciliation with the memory of her deceased father," Els explained. "A damaged cake symbolises her brokenness, forming a healing food altar with his sardine, cracker, and onion ritual, uniting father and daughter through remembrance and peace."
