Carolina Global Photography Exhibition explores connectedness, relationships

This story was initially revealed at global.unc.edu. Photos by Chloé Bell.

As college students streamed out of their lessons in the FedEx Global Education Center this previous week, various lingered to check new photographs on the partitions. These photographs — 35 in whole, with UNC Hussman represented by six college students and alumni and eight images — are this yr’s finalists for the Carolina Global Photography Competition. The cherished custom at UNC-Chapel Hill has lasted greater than 25 years.

The photographs had been chosen from 452 competitors submissions, all captured by Carolina college students, school, employees and alumni. This yr’s exhibition invitations viewers to think about compositions that show connectedness — relationships and thru strains to our previous, our setting and one another.

Pasquale Hinrichs ’26, a media and journalism and world research pupil, was this yr’s first-place winner together with her submission “Mujeres Luchadoras,” or combating ladies. Hinrichs spoke at a reception on Thursday, Feb. 12, to mark the official opening of the 2026 Carolina Global Photography Exhibition.

“It’s incredible to look out at a room full of people who care about the moments captured by Tar Heels around the world,” Hinrichs stated. “This space is filled not only with viewers, but with people who have wandered, observed and documented these moments themselves.”

Continue studying to study extra about three of the finalists featured on this yr’s exhibition.

‘Mujeres Luchadoras’ by Pasquale Hinrichs ’26

During a spring break journey to Argentina final yr for “MEJO 584: International Projects,” Hinrichs was touched by a gaggle of performers on the International Women’s Day March in Buenos Aires.

The performers had been paying homage to the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, who self-organized to protest authorities kidnappings and state-sponsored violence throughout Argentina’s dictatorship within the Seventies and proceed to march right now.

Though Hinrich’s major purpose for the day was merely to expertise the march as an attendee, she introduced her digicam alongside together with her. When she noticed the Mujeres Luchadoras dancing, she was moved to take a photograph.

“Their dance expressed their pain, their strength and the belonging these women found in each other and this experience they shared,” Hinrichs stated. “I felt very emotionally connected to the photo while also loving the movement captured in it.”

Aside from appreciating the picture’s visible enchantment, Hinrichs hopes that viewers will assume critically about its subject material.

‘Towards Their Fluid Homes’ by Parag Jyoti Saikia

Even when trailing a herd of water buffalo via a river, anthropology doctoral candidate Parag Jyoti Saikia is rarely one to move up a chance for picture.

“I have taken so many photos, I’ve had to [clear] my 128 GB phone twice,” Saikia stated. “My friends kind of find it irritating — if I see anything interesting, I just take out my phone.”

When Saikia observed a picturesque second in the future as he was conducting area work in Assam, India, he didn’t hesitate to succeed in for his cellphone. The ensuing picture, which he entitled “Towards Their Fluid Homes,” depicts a herder main a gaggle of Asian water buffalo throughout the Subansiri River because the solar units off within the distance. The Subansiri River experiences frequent water degree fluctuations, periodically revealing low-lying islands and sandbars that herders residing alongside the riverbank use to boost their buffaloes.

Saikia first submitted a photograph to the Carolina Global Photography Competition again in 2018. He hopes exhibition guests will see his picture on this yr’s exhibition for instance of the delicate magnificence that lies in on a regular basis life.

“I really wanted to capture how people live with the river from morning to evening,” Saikia stated. “It’s a beautiful setting, but there’s also a very mundane aspect to it. For me, as someone who’s doing research there [and is from there], this is a part of our regular life. It captures that beauty of mundane moments.”

‘I Am, Because We Are’ by Jack Leary ’29

For media and journalism pupil Jack Leary ’29, his featured {photograph} communicates the exhibition’s theme of connectedness via Ubuntu.

Ubuntu, generally translated as “I am because we are,” is an expression and philosophy that emphasizes discovering id within the collective slightly than the person.

Leary first discovered about this expression whereas volunteering in Fish Hoek, South Africa, on the Ubuntu Football Academy throughout his Morehead-Cain hole yr. For the month he was there, one of many major issues he did was produce sports activities images and videography for the academy. Out of all of the photographs he took, one shot of academy gamers Losika and Eugene smiling in victory on the soccer area stood out to him.

“I probably took thousands of photos over that month,” Leary stated. “I took this one at a qualifying match. Losika scored a goal… and I just thought it was a moment of absolute pure passion. I’ve been around sports a lot in the United States, and the passion and the love for the game at Ubuntu was so much purer than what you see here.”

Leary will probably be returning to Ubuntu subsequent yr as half of a summer season challenge via his Morehead-Cain scholarship, the place along with a pal he’ll produce a full documentary about the academy.

The 2026 exhibition

“Mujeres Luchadoras,” “Towards Their Fluid Homes,” “I Am, Because We Are” and the remainder of the chosen finalists’ photographs are actually on show within the FedEx Global Education Center. The public is invited to view the photographs throughout constructing hours — Monday via Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. — or by way of the virtual gallery. The exhibition will run via December 2026.

Carolina college students, school, employees and alumni are all eligible to submit photographs to the Carolina Global Photography Competition. The 2026-2027 cycle will start accepting submissions this summer season.

Winners

First Place: Pasquale Hinrichs ’26 — “Mujeres Luchadoras”

Second Place: Samika Sahu ’27 — “Because I’m Always on That Damn Phone”

Third Place: Canan Coșkun ’27 — “Dear Frozen Homeland”

UNC Global Affairs highlight: Kush Shah ’24 — “Icebergs”

Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies highlight: Zheyu Huang ’23 — “An Istanbulite Solace”

Carolina Asia Center highlight: Gabrielle Moreau ’26 — “Persistence on the Great Lake”

Center for European Studies highlight: Abigail Arrata ’27 — “Champs-Élysées Swing”

African Studies Center highlight: Jack Leary ’29 — “I Am, Because We Are”

Institute for the Study of the Americas highlight: Grace Richards ’26 — “Songs from Underground”

Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies highlight: Austin Haenni ’28 — “Lost at Sea”

UNC Hussman winners