Winners of the 20th Beni Trutmann Photo Contest––where a total of 30 participants submitted 86 photos in the categories of Colour, Black and White, Social Justice and Junior––received their prizes yesterday. First-place awards in the Colour, Black and White, and Social Justice categories carry cash prizes of €500; second-place prizes, €300, and third-place, €200. In Junior, both the first and second prize winners received a Kodak Pixpro AZ422 digital camera.

Vanessa Parellada, culture councillor, congratulated winners and praised everyone that submitted work to the 20-year-old competition. The contest "maintains the same spirit of the photographer that gives it its name, taking care of the island and capturing its landscapes, customs and people". The event is a tribute to Beni Trutmann, the accomplished Swiss photographer who called the island home for 44 years and left it with more than 30,000 photographs evidencing his love for Formentera and its nature.

Colour
The first-prize winning photo in the colour category shows the father of photographer Lluís Mayans i Marí as he contemplates grapes and ponders the harvest that lies ahead. It speaks to the tradition of the countryside and its enduring importance, even today, in the 21st century.

Second-prize winner Wolfang Wicher captured the toiling, lonely work of fishermen in a snapshot during a visit to the island in 2015. The photographer traces his interest in the world of fishing to 1965, when the then-14 Wicher accompanied a fisherman in Es Pujols to retrieve nets near S'Espardell.

Ainhoa Ezkurra Cabello's third-prize winning photograph, "Hortolana sense hort", is a textured monochromatic snapshot that invites reflection on water scarcity and its consequences.

Black and White
First prize in Black and White went to Jaime Franch Rojo for his photo entitled "Entre canyes i fang". The image tells the story of a craftsman in winter who collects reeds from the pond, left on purpose, to use in handicrafts. The peaceful natural surroundings and the hand-picking of the reeds move us to reflect on bygone years.

Josep López Vañó's second-prize winner is "Volando voy, volando vengo y con Paco yo me entretengo". The subject's peaceful gaze exudes the natural quality of someone for whom relaxation is serious business: plucking the guitar with an air of kindness and love everlasting.

Adrián Pinilla Ballester won third prize for his black and white exploration of death: of an island and its people, the elderly in particular, whose legacy is speculated on and sold off.

Social Justice
Jaime Franch Rojo won first-prize in the category of Social Justice for "Phantom fishing": a forgotten net on the floor of the sea near Sa Punta which, as the years go by, continues to work damage on the ecosystem that accommodates it. It reminds us of the importance of looking beneath the surface, and acknowledging our ignorance around all we have yet to learn.

Second and third prizes were not awarded.

Junior
In the Junior category, first prize went to an underwater photograph of a nudibranch in Es Banc. With remarkable delicacy, Laia Bonet Cardona captured this hard-to-find mollusk under a thin translucent layer of light.

Alecsandru Farcas snagged second prize for a photograph combining the darkness of a night in Sant Francesc with a twinkle of light batting away nearby clouds while a woman walks quietly down the street. It is a search for hope and beauty in dark times.

Third prize was not awarded.

Exhibition
A display of this year's submissions and winning shots is on view at Sala d'Exposicions "Ajuntament Vell" from 3 to 13 May. The exhibition will be open 11.00am to 2.00pm and 6.00pm to 8.00pm, except on Monday mornings and Sundays.

3 May 2023
Office of Communication
Consell de Formentera

The Office of Equality of the Consell de Formentera, together with Wanawake Woman, an NGO, are organising various actions during the second week of May to promote gender equality on the island. The activities start Monday with workshops at CEIP Mestre Lluís Andreu, CEIP Sant Ferran de ses Roques, CEIP El Pilar, and IES Marc Ferrer, and culminate Sunday 14 May with a master class on meditative dance, which also benefits from the collaboration of Yoga Formentera. To round out the actions, there will be "Girls and Women's Status in the World: Realities and Challenges", a virtual exhibition, and the participation of a Wanawake activist who will advocate women's rights in the Half Marathon (13 May).

Ana Juan, president and equality councillor of the Consell de Formentera, said that "these varied actions have a common goal: to underscore the reality that girls and women in our world face; promote gender equality; highlight situations of inequality around the globe, and provide information on the varying forms of violence that are based on this inequality".

Master class on meditative dance
14 May, 10.00am to 11.00am, a free and open-to-all master class will take place in Plaça de la Constitució in Sant Francesc. Participants will learn a dance for the rights of girls and women survivors of female genital mutilation, child marriage and trafficking for exploitation. This meditative dance has a double objective: to offer and send energy and support to survivors and, above all, to raise awareness of these three little known forms of violence.

The class will be taught by Flor Mauguer (Yoga Formentera). There are fifty places, which will be awarded in order of registration. Signups end 12 May. The recommended age to participate is 16 and older. To see more details and register, click here: Wanawake meditative dance master class.

Also at the dance will be Monica Batán, activist, athlete and director of Wanawake Mujer, who will present the event along with a representative of the Office of Equality. Each attendee will also receive a Maua bracelet made by female beneficiaries of Wanawake Woman's support. Production of the bracelets serves as an alternative employment opportunity. "When someone wears this bracelet, she tells the story behind it, creates work and empowers women to decide about their lives and those of their daughters", explained the NGO.

2 May 2023
Office of Communication
Consell de Formentera