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Magnum’s Pictures of the Year, 2019

Magnum president, Thomas Dworzak, selects the collective's top images that have represented the last twelve months

Magnum Photographers

Peter van Agtmael Donald Trump speaking at a rally. Montoursville, Pennsylvania. USA. May 20, 2019. © Peter van Agtmael | Magnum Photos
Christopher Anderson French President Emmanuel Macron in his office at the Élysée Palace. Paris. France. 2019. For TIME Magazine. © Christopher Anderson | Magnum Photos
Olivia Arthur & Philipp Ebeling TiChan (formerly Thibaut, soon to be Charlotte) At work. Maurice. France. 2019 © Olivia Arthur & Philipp Ebeling | Magnum Photos
Bruno Barbey The statue of Mao Zedong undergoes maintenance in Tianfu Square. Chengdu. China. 2019. © Bruno Barbey | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen Anna. Nesodden. Norway. 2019. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Ian Berry St Stephen's Cathedral (more commonly known by its German title, Stephansdom) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. The current (...)
Matt Black Snowstorm. Madawaska, Maine. USA. 2019. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Enri Canaj Outside the yard of a house where 45 migrants from 4 different natonalities are sharing the same space. Agadez. Niger. 2019. © Enri Canaj | Magnum Photos
Chien-Chi Chang October 1, 2019 was China's 70th National Day. Most of the "pro-China celebrations" in Hong Kong have been low-key and indoors. Out on the streets are the protests in six districts, on Hong Kong Is (...)
Bieke Depoorter Elks Lodge. From the project: "Michael." Gresham, Oregon. USA. 2019. © Bieke Depoorter | Magnum Photos
Carolyn Drake Adrienne and Zion. USA. Water Valley, Mississippi. 2018. From the project, "Knit Club." © Carolyn Drake | Magnum Photos
Thomas Dworzak “Migrant Experience” reenacting of a night march of Mexican illegal migrants to the US, organized by Eco Parc Alberto holiday resort for a group of about 100 Mexican high school students. "Blindfol (...)
Nikos Economopoulos Harar. Ethiopia. 2019. © Nikos Economopoulos | Magnum Photos
Stuart Franklin Theresa May (right) speaks to mourners after the funeral of Lyra McKee outside St Anne's Cathedral. The popular journalist (29) was shot by a New IRA gunman in Creggan, Londonderry. Irish Taoiseach (...)
Jean Gaumy Plage. Fecamp. Normandy. France. 29 December 2018. © Jean Gaumy | Magnum Photos
Bruce Gilden Nicole. Kensington, Philadelphia. USA. August, 2019. © Bruce Gilden | Magnum Photos
Jim Goldberg Social Studies. San Francisco and Los Angeles, USA. 1990-2019. © Jim Goldberg | Magnum Photos
David Alan Harvey Kim inside her home in Chula Vista. San Diego, CA. USA. 2019. © David Alan Harvey | Magnum Photos
Nanna Heitmann Anja (left) and Daria pose in front of their motorcycles in the settlement of Agalatovo, close to St. Petersburg. Russia. 2018. © Nanna Heitmann | Magnum Photos
Thomas Hoepker Buddhist child-students in monastery in Kayah state. Myanmar. December, 2018. © Thomas Hoepker | Magnum Photos
David Hurn Each year the Viareggio Carnival attracts more than 600,000 spectators gathering to attend the magic of the grand parades of large floats in papier-mache´. The peculiarity of the Viareggio Carni (...)
Richard Kalvar Extinction Rebellion movement blocks the center of Paris at the Place du Châtelet. An ecology lecturer lectures. Paris 75001. France. 2019 © Richard Kalvar | Magnum Photos
Lorenzo Meloni Leonora (19) from Leipzig, Germany. She is portrayed just outside Baghuz, while handing herself over to the SDF security forces. She joined the Islamic State when she was 15 and she married Martin (...)
Cristina de Middel "I moved to Mexico in 2014 but in my mind I had been living there from way before. Unreal, surreal and so harsh at the same time, like a comedy, a drama and a romantic movie playing at the same tim (...)
Rafal Milach Karaoke performance, at the former death strip, Mauerpark. Berlin. Germany. 10.2019 © Rafal Milach | Magnum Photos
Emin Özmen Farmers wave while Turkish military vehicles carrying tanks pass on the way to Northern Syria to join ongoing military operations against Kurdish fighters. Akcakale, Turkey, 2019. © Emin Özmen | Magnum Photos
Martin Parr St Paul's Carnival. Bristol. England. GB. 2019. © Martin Parr | Magnum Photos
Mark Power Touchet. Washington. USA. 10th February 2019. © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
Raghu Rai Khomeinis - Street scene. Tehran. Iran. 2018. © Raghu Rai | Magnum Photos
Lua Ribeira From the project "La Jungla". Park on the USA-Mexico border. Tijuana. Mexico. 2019. © Lua Ribeira | Magnum Photos
Zied Ben Romdhane Inside a house filled with sand. Nouail. Tunisia. 3 July 2019. © Zied Ben Romdhane | Magnum Photos
Alessandra Sanguinetti Pro Amore Shelter. Tijuana. Mexico. 2019. © Alessandra Sanguinetti | Magnum Photos
Moises Saman Life slowly returns to war-ravaged western Mosul a year and a half after the city was retaken from ISIS by Iraqi forces in July of 2017. Mosul. Iraq. January 15, 2019. For TIME Magazine. © Moises Saman | Magnum Photos
Jérôme Sessini Paul, got Hep C and HIV by drinking human blood, because he once practiced vampirism. Baltimore. USA. March 2019. © Jérôme Sessini | Magnum Photos
Lindokuhle Sobekwa Farm workers with their boss' child in a local supermarket. Daleside. Johannesburg. South Africa. 2019. © Lindokuhle Sobekwa | Magnum Photos
Mikhael Subotzky Steiner II. Oil, ink and Micropore tape on canvas. 100 x 77 cm. 2019. © Mikhael Subotzky | Magnum Photos
Newsha Tavakolian This 12-year-old former child fighter “S.K” tried to return to ISIS several times, and was so violent to his family that his own uncle kicked him out, along with his mother and his two sisters. NGO (...)
Larry Towell In the countryside, north of Mexico City, a couple of hundred migrants make a stopover. The latter have chosen to separate from the caravan. Maybe they'll join again it later. Under the white plast (...)
Sim Chi Yin A dance class for the elderly. Bao Zhu Dancehall. Dashiba. Chongqing. China. 2019. © Sim Chi Yin | Magnum Photos
Patrick Zachmann A rope access technician in the site where the Arrow was standing. Paris. France. 25 June 2019. © Patrick Zachmann | Magnum Photos

Magnum’s 2019 Pictures of the Year edit has been made by Magnum president Thomas Dworzak. One image taken over the last twelve months by each active Magnum photographer is collected here, providing an incisive visual review of 2019’s global goings-on. Dworzak shared these thoughts on the process of creating the selection:

“It’s been an enormous pleasure to again dig through my colleagues’ attempts to somehow deal with these turbulent times of ours. Trump, Brexit, ISIS, Russia, Kashmir – the US-Mexican border, just to name a few.”

While offering an overview of defining international news events, the pictures continue Magnum’s tradition of sharing insight into less heavily documented narratives and issues around the world. From news assignments to personally-initiated projects, the stories documented by the photographers are wide in scope and ambitious in their approach, and together convey the broad photographic and artistic approaches of the collective’s members.

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