ANSA photo-book tells story of year, from Trump to wars

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 10 - ANSA has unveiled the 2024 edition of PhotoANSA, its traditional year-end book of photographic reportage.
    The year was marked by US President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House, which opens new scenarios on the worldwide stage and on the future of ongoing wars.
    And the images tell stories of suffering and destruction, from Gaza to Ukraine, which are part of our daily lives and appear to increasingly push away a dream of peace.
    They portray elections in a divided, lost Europe that seeks to reaffirm its role in the world, while European cities, like Valencia, appear unable to bear the brunt of climate change.
    This and much more is portrayed in the special 20th edition of the book, which includes iconic images of the past few years. "Uncertainty grows on the future and on imminent events at the end of the electoral campaign most filled with hatred that we can remember: Trump's past endeavours, which culminated in the Capitol's occupation, are not reassuring", wrote ANSA President Giulio Anselmi in the preface.
    "New questions are open on the consequences of the aggression unleashed by Putin against Ukraine and on the Middle East, which occupy the subsequent chapters of the photo book dedicated to 2024 and intensify an increasingly extensive anguish that involves Russia, China and flares up in the Middle East, from Gaza to Lebanon, from Israel's attacks to the Blue Helmets.
    Behind reported stories it is possible to see consolidated balances cracking. The very idea of liberal democracies is weakened and questioned: will they be able to support our institutions? Will the global economy have in store more bad surprises". The opening photo dates back to November 6, when Donald Trump, elected president of the United States for the second time, points to his people, gathered at his headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida, symbolically handing them victory.
    He addresses them with his raised fist after surviving an assassination attempt on July 13 at a rally in Butler, he mingles with the crowd at a McDonald's, he poses with a metalworker's helmet and dances on stage, while enthusiasm around Kamala Harris's candidature, supported by the star system, inevitably appears ephemeral.
    The images portray a reality that is far from the one seen in the chapter dedicated to wars, where the children of Gaza, who are hungry, dirty, without shoes, survive amid the rubble, while one of them poses in a wedding gown, almost as if she wanted to reaffirm a desire for life.
    Meanwhile, in many parts of the world, people head to the ballots, including in Europe, as portrayed by images of people queueing to vote and of crowded squares, evoking the strength of democracy, threatened by autocracies and by the unshakable power of the economy's giants.
    The world unites at the Paris Olympic Games with photos unveiling the marvel of athletic bodies amid joys and disappointments and in bidding farewell to Alain Delon, described by the Figaro and Parisien newspapers as "The Last Samurai", who poses alone or with the most fascinating actresses of his time.
    Italy can be seen in the images on the 70 years of television, with programs from Indietro Tutta to Ballando con le Stelle (Dancing with the Stars).
    The last chapter features iconic photos from the last two decades, from the drowned boy who washed up on a Turkish beach, a symbol of the thousands of people who have died in the Mediterranean Sea, to the lighting bolt striking St Peter's Basilica, to the Costa Concordia cruise ship sinking in front of the Giglio island, showcasing the strength of photography in portraying the world.
    Photoansa 2024 was unveiled on December 9 in Rome, at the Maxxi contemporary art museum, at an event attended by Defence Minister Guido Crosetto and physics Nobel laureate Giorgio Parisi, among others.
    It will debut on December 11 in Milan, at Palazzo Lombardia, at a ceremony to be attended by Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana, Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, Intesa Sanpaolo President Gian Maria Gros-Pietro and the interim President of Milan's Tribunal Fabio Roia.
    Guests from the world of sports will include judo champion Alice Bellandi, Paralympian athlete Simone Barlaand and Roncadelle Mayor Roberto Groppelli while principal dancer Roberto Bolle will represent the world of ballet. (ANSA).