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Pacific Place mall in South Jakarta is extremely busy these days with people getting into the holiday spirit: little kids are lining up to meet Santa Claus, while the grown-ups are rushing from one store to another in the search of last-minute gifts.

Yet amid the holiday hustle and bustle and the decorations there are reminders of the world beyond the holiday cheer: a series of photographs depicting images that range from gruesome, startling to moving.

The World Press Photo exhibition has showcased its winning images at Pacific Place over the last couple of years, and while the reason behind this approach is obvious — to get the attention of those who normally wouldn’t go to a gallery to see an exhibition — it can be disturbing to see these photos in this context.

The effect, however, is undeniable. The stark contrast makes the photographs incredibly powerful.

This year’s winning photo was taken by Jodi Bieber of South Africa. Her portrait of 18-year-old Bibi Aisha from Afghanistan, which made the cover of Time magazine in August, shows the young woman’s disfigured face that is disturbing but radiates a certain dignity that is almost heartbreaking.

David Burnett, a photojournalist, founding member of Contact Press Images and chair of the 2011 jury, said: “This could become one of those pictures, and we have maybe just 10 in our lifetime, where if somebody says ‘You know, that picture of a girl... ,’ you know exactly which one they’re talking about.”

The story behind the photo is cruel and sad. Married to a Taliban fighter, Bibi came back to her parents’ house after suffering abuse by her in-laws. She was then hunted down and her ears and nose were sliced off for allegedly bringing shame to her husband’s family. Bibi later found shelter at an aid organization and then went to the United States, where she received psychological help and reconstructive surgery.

British jury member Aidan Sullivan, vice president of photo assignments at Getty Images, said that “part of what the World Press Photo contest does is to take pictures to a wider audience, an audience that is going to ask ‘Why?’ And this photo makes people ask ‘What on earth...?’ ‘What’s going on...?’ ‘What has happened...?’ For me, this was the picture that asked the most important questions.”

While Bieber’s photo has received the top prize, there are a number of other compelling images in nine different categories being showcased at the exhibition. Out of 5,691 photographers in the contest, only 54 from 23 different countries were selected as winners.

Indonesian photographer Kemal Jufri’s moving photographs of the Mount Merapi eruptions last year earned him second prize in the “People in the News” category. The images show dead animals, residents fleeing their homes, being evacuated, and whole villages blanketed in ash.

Other photographs include the Red Shirts protests in Thailand, captured by Corentin Fohlen, Daniel Morel’s documentation of earthquake victims in Haiti, and Guang Niu’s images of a mass cremation of earthquake victims in the Chinese province Qinghai.

A special mention went to a series of photographs shot by the Chilean miners who were trapped 700 meters underground for 69 days before they were ultimately rescued in October last year. According to jury member Abir Abdullah, a photographer for European Pressphoto Agency and vice principal of the Pathshala South Asian Media Academy, this special mention illuminates the important changes that both journalism and photography have undergone in recent years.

“This recognition opens up the possibility of showing citizen journalism,” he said. “It brings us into a new era that challenges professionals, and this is a good example of a photo from a place where a photojournalist could not possibly have been.”

American photographer Sarah Elliott was recognized for a haunting series about abortion in Kenya in the “Contemporary Issues” category. Since abortion is considered a crime in Kenya and can result in up to seven years of imprisonment, women who want to terminate a pregnancy can only do so illegally. Poor women who can’t afford a secret abortion in a proper clinic have no other choice than to rely on often unexperienced and unskilled practitioners.

Elliott’s photos of blood-soaked plank beds in a rundown shack and women before, during and after the procedure are simply gruesome and seem to scream for justice.

At the same time, the images are so powerful that it is quite hard to look away again, especially for women.

But it is still the holidays. The photos of the sports and nature categories are stunning and much easier to digest. That may be the reason why the organizers put them in a more prominent spot than the news categories, which can be found in a corner on the far end.

But as remarkable as the photos of sports and nature might be, it will be the searing images of the cruel world beyond the comfortable confines of a glitzy mall that will linger in the visitors’ heads after they go home, and that are responsible for that queasy feeling in their stomachs.

World Press Photo 2011
Until Jan. 4
Pacific Place
Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Kav. 52-53
South Jakarta
worldpressphoto.org