Muhammed Muheisen’s image of Zahra Mahmoud awarded picture of the year 2017

The UNICEF Photo of the Year 2017 shows the horrors of war and displacement, reflected in the eyes of a distraught child. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Muhammed Muheisen took the picture of five-year-old Zahra from Syria in an informal tented settlement near Mafraq in Jordan. Zahra’s face represents the quiet sadness of millions of children in crisis areas around the world.

For over a decade Muheisen has been documenting stories of refugees and internally displaced people around the world. He met Zahra and her family for the first time in 2015 and captured this winning picture in 2016 while working on a photo series ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Syrian civil war. “For me it is so important to focus on the most vulnerable ones, the children, and to tell their stories to the world,” explains the award winner in Berlin.

UNICEF Picture of the Year 2017