Milan, October 16 (askanews) – Two women, two photographers, confront the contemporary world and its nightmares, and recount it through their work without compromise, yet without losing the tenderness of their gaze. The works of the Deloitte Photo Grant winners are on display at the Triennale in Milan. "This edition's winners," artistic director Denis Curti told askanews, "are two photographers who confirm the power of photographic language and who manage to transform the ambiguous nature of photography into a very private and personal expression."
The 2026 Deloitte Photo Grant went to Russian photographer Maria Turchenkova for "Numb State," while Iranian photographer Atefe Moeini, winner of the 2025 Open Call, presented her series "Go Live." "In Maria Turchenkova's work," Curti added, "war is never seen in its most bloody form.
It's seen in terms of a feeling, in terms of a contradiction of people who are no longer able to react, who are no longer able to say enough to the war, we don't want this war. Similarly, Atefe Moeini, an Iranian girl from Tehran, is arrested by the morality police because women in Iran are not allowed to do anything, they can't sing in public, they can't raise their arms—absurd paradoxes. She is shocked by this arrest, she hasn't done anything, so she decides to leave, to continue her studies in the United States.
She intercepts other refugee women who have suffered the same violence as her.” The international photography competition is promoted by Deloitte Italia with the patronage of the Deloitte Foundation. “We believe,” Guido Boorsani, president of the foundation, told us, “that photography helps develop critical thinking, because in all editions of the Photo Grant, and even more so in this edition, the photographs bring us extremely topical themes that affect nations, communities, but also the lives of individuals. And we are convinced that there is, beyond the beauty of enjoyment, also an educational intent in stimulating critical thinking that can contribute to a better world.” The exhibition of this fourth edition of the Deloitte Photo Grant remains open to the public at the Triennale until November 29.
Askanews