A photo collage with three portraits: a woman with wavy hair poses with arms raised in front of flowers; a woman in colorful traditional clothing and a headscarf looks to the side; an elderly woman leans out of a window smiling.

All About Photo (AAP) has revealed the winners of AAP Magazine 55: Women, a special edition dedicated to highlighting the work of women photographers from around the world. This issue emphasizes both artistic vision and the lived experiences of women, continuing AAP’s mission to amplify unheard voices.

A person in a dark room wears a red makeshift mask covering their head, with one eye visible. They hold a pair of scissors close to their chest, and the wall behind them is worn and peeling.Silvia Alessi, Courtesy All About Photo First Place: Silvia Alessi and The Cut

The top prize was awarded to Silvia Alessi of Italy for her series The Cut, which explores hair as a symbol of control, identity, and resistance. The award-winning image portrays a young Afghan girl who fled alone to Pakistan, embodying both fragility and strength. Alessi’s long-term project also documents women working in secret in beauty salons under Taliban rule and Afghan refugee women using hair and beauty practices as a subtle means of learning and self-expression. By blending staged and documentary photography, her work highlights the body as a site of negotiation, where freedom is quietly asserted.

An elderly woman and a young girl sit on a bed in a cozy room. The woman embroiders fabric while the smiling girl in a red dress looks at her with a book in her lap. A patterned carpet hangs on the wall behind them.Natalya Saprunova, Courtesy All About Photo Second Place: Natalya Saprunova and Boreal People

Natalya Saprunova, representing France and Russia, earned second place for her series Boreal People. Her featured image captures Galina Lazareva, an 80-year-old Evenki craftswoman in Yakutia, Eastern Siberia, who single-handedly cares for her great-granddaughter. Through traditional embroidery and handmade garments, Lazareva passes on ancestral knowledge, connecting generations and preserving cultural identity. Saprunova’s work emphasizes the transmission of heritage and the resilience embedded in everyday domestic life.

A black woman lies on her back with her eyes closed, surrounded closely by three children, all embracing her and each other, conveying warmth and intimacy. The image is in black and white.Angelika Kollin, Courtesy All About Photo Third Place: Angelika Kollin and You Are My Mother

Third place went to Angelika Kollin of Estonia for her series You Are My Mother. The portrait of Cynthia depicts a matriarch at the center of her family in Africa, whose quiet presence holds together the lives of children, grandchildren, and community. Kollin’s photography brings attention to the invisible labor of women, showing how their care and stability form the backbone of familial and social structures.

Merit Awards: Global Perspectives on Women’s Lives

AAP Magazine 55: Women also features a Merit Awards Gallery showcasing exceptional work from photographers around the world. Indian photographer Somenath Mukhopadhyay presents Colorful Burden, staged images highlighting the relentless daily labor of women collecting water in China Clay mines. Italian photographer Ezio Gianni Murzi revisits Carmelo Hospital in Mozambique, documenting HIV-positive mothers and children, and the long-term impact of compassionate medical care in under-resourced communities. In Romania, Ron Cooper’s portraits of elderly women living alone in rural villages emphasize resilience, tradition, and the sustaining role of faith.

Other contributors explore themes ranging from urban life to personal identity. B Jane Levine captures candid street portraits in New York City, reflecting fleeting moments of connection. Aline Smithson elevates Los Angeles immigrants through staged portraits that recognize dignity, heritage, and transnational experiences. Donna Gordon’s In the Garden series combines portraiture with landscape to explore alter-egos and the evolving rights of women. Sebastian Sardi documents young women laboring in the brick kilns of Kathmandu, highlighting physical endurance and socioeconomic challenges.

An elderly woman with long gray hair and a headband sits outdoors, wrapped in a colorful patchwork blanket, her eyes closed, with sunlight highlighting her face and the blanket.Justin Roque, Courtesy All About Photo An elderly woman with short hair leans on the ledge of an open wooden window, framed by a lace curtain. She wears a light jacket and smiles gently, looking directly at the camera. The photo is in black and white.Jelisa Peterson, Courtesy All About Photo Black and white portrait of a young person wearing a striped, patterned headscarf adorned with decorative beads, looking directly at the camera with an intense and serious expression.Ingetje Tadros, Courtesy All About Photo A woman sits on the edge of a hospital bed looking at a young girl who is lying under a blanket. In the background, another woman sits on a separate bed in a sparsely furnished hospital room.Ezio Gianni Murzi, Courtesy All About Photo Black and white photo of a person standing outdoors with arms raised and hands framing their face, wearing a draped garment, surrounded by leafy plants and flowers in the background.Donna Gordon, Courtesy All About Photo An elderly woman wearing a dark headscarf and coat sits on a wooden bench, holding a walking stick. She looks thoughtfully out the window as soft light illuminates her face. The room is dim and rustic.Ron Cooper, Courtesy All About Photo A woman in a red jacket, winter hat, and boots stands on a snowy road holding a small dog on a leash, with a baby in a carrier on her chest. Snowy landscape and sunset sky are in the background.Clark James Mishler, Courtesy All About Photo A close-up of a smiling young person with curly hair, wearing a black and white collared shirt, shown within a black rectangular frame with numbers and symbols on the edges.Cheryl Clegg, Courtesy All About Photo A person applies makeup to their face with a sponge, holding a compact mirror in one hand. They look directly at the camera. Several people stand in the background outside a building.B Jane Levine, Courtesy All About Photo A woman in a mint green outfit with a braid looks up while holding a green teacup. She is surrounded by vintage green dishes and various green foods on a matching green table and background.Beth Stahn, Courtesy All About Photo A woman wearing a headscarf and colorful clothes stands in knee-deep floodwater inside a building with green walls and potted plants, looking directly at the camera with arms crossed.Alain Schroeder, Courtesy All About Photo Personal Narratives and Identity

The collection also includes deeply personal explorations of the female body, trauma, and identity. Leonie van der Helm’s Naked with the Truth treats the body as a living archive shaped by inherited histories. Oksana Zhila’s self-portraits question identity and vulnerability after migration, while Leonor Benito de la Lastra experiments with photographic materiality, presenting images as fragments of lived experience. Cheryl Clegg examines the ongoing influence of Title IX through intimate portraits, connecting policy with human stories across generations. Ingetje Tadros highlights the cultural adornments of Fulani girls, reflecting lineage and continuity, while Mary Dondero’s digital montages explore patterns of harm in layered visual narratives.

Every image in this issue, from Beth Stahn’s Grandma’s Jello to Valentina Sinis’ The Last Butterflies, and from Jelisa Peterson’s Beauty, Dignity and Strength: Women of Mozambique to Clark James Mishler’s Portrait-a-Day project, contributes to a broader conversation about visibility, resilience, and empowerment. Photographers Oscar González, Mandy Ross, and Justin Roque further explore cultural heritage, ritual, and memory across Cuba, India, and France.

A woman wearing a patterned headscarf, long-sleeve shirt, and gloves stands among stacked bricks in front of a brick wall, looking to her left. The scene appears dusty and she is leaning on the bricks.Sebastian Sardi, Courtesy All About Photo A person’s face seen through a sheet of textured, honeycomb-patterned material, which distorts their features. The background is blue, and the eyes, nose, and mouth appear blurred behind the mesh.Oksana Zhila, Courtesy All About Photo A woman in a red and white striped dress stands in sunlight next to a brown wall with large red letters spelling "BOWL." The wall is adjacent to a building painted with red, white, and blue stripes and a large arrow.Nina Nelson, Courtesy All About Photo A young person with long dark hair and traditional clothing stands facing forward. Their portrait is overlaid with a red handprint on their face, a woven pattern, and a desert landscape in the background.Mary Dondero, Courtesy All About Photo A person with long dreadlocks and layered jewelry holds a peacock feather partially covering their face, revealing one intense eye through the feather. The background is dark, highlighting their expressive features.Mandy Ross, Courtesy All About Photo A blurred, sepia-toned image of a person standing barefoot, with their head cropped out. They wear a light skirt, partially obscured by a faded rectangular overlay. A yellowish circle appears on the right side of the image.Leonor Benito de la lastra, Courtesy All About Photo Two people with long hair, dressed in camouflage clothing, walk side by side in a dimly lit underground tunnel. One carries a rifle and both have bags slung over their shoulders, with one arm draped around the other's back.Valentina Sinis, Courtesy All About Photo Four women in colorful traditional clothes walk in a line across a rocky, sandy landscape, each carrying a large plastic container on their head. The containers are blue, red, and yellow.Somenath Mukhopadhyay, Courtesy All About Photo A woman in a teal satin dress with a large red flower sits on a wooden chair, holding a colorful toy doll in her lap, against a dark, softly lit background.Aline Smithson, Courtesy All About Photo Celebrating Vision and Impact

The top three winners received a cash prize of $1,000 each, and all winning photographs are prominently featured in the printed edition of AAP Magazine 55: Women. Together, the selected works offer a broad view of contemporary photography, spanning documentary, portraiture, and conceptual approaches while reflecting a wide range of personal and cultural perspectives.

By bringing these projects into a single publication, All About Photo continues its commitment to elevating distinct visual voices and fostering a space where meaningful conversations around authorship, visibility, and the evolving role of women in photography can take shape.

Image credits: All About Photo, Individual artists as credited