Searching for Africa in LIFE and a fascinating conversation at Photo London 2026

In a powerful exchange at Photo London 2026, Prix Pictet Storm winner Alfredo Jaar and Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2025 recipient Alejandro Cegarra
explored the "politics of images" and the human stakes of global crises. Jaar, an architect by training, and Cegarra, a photojournalist, are united by a deep empathy and an urgent need to use the image as a form ofsocial resistance.

Alfredo Jaar’s practice highlights the "ideological dimension" of the world through what is missing from our visual landscape. His work Searching for Africa in LIFE presents all the 2,128 covers of LIFE magazine to illustrate how the Western press's omission of a continent. To combat audience apathy, Jaar employs "reverse strategies," such as hiding horrific images inside archival boxes in Real Pictures to force a deeper engagement with the unseen. In his Prix Pictet-winning series, The End, Jaar presents small-format iPhone photos of the dying Great Salt Lake, forcing viewers to get physically close to the subject, creating an intimate, deep engagement with environmental collapse.

In contrast, Alejandro Cegarra’s documentation of migration at the Mexican borders is rooted in "the human side" of the lens. Cegarra rejects the cruelty often found in the press, choosing instead a slow, trust-based process, often spending 45 minutes talking for every 45 seconds spent photographing. By capturing universal moments of love and resilience, such as lovers on the road or a mother’s embrace, his work aims to build bridges of understanding rather than reinforcing borders.

The dialogue concluded with a stark look at the future of photography. Jaar noted that photography remains a critical tool of resistance, evidenced by the high number of journalists killed in recent conflicts. While both expressed concern over the "scroll culture" of social media and the "existential threat" of unregulated AI, they agreed that the human element of photography is more vital than ever. For Cegarra, the rise of synthetic images makes the trustworthy name of a dedicated photographer essential to preserving the truth. For Jaar, art remains the "last remaining space of freedom" in an era of growing censorship.