Four Powerful Photographs to Look For at World Press Photo in Budapest

Some photographs make you stop scrolling. Others make you forget you were holding your phone. The World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 brings that second kind to Budapest’s Biodóm from September 25 to November 8. If you are planning a visit, here are four images worth slowing down for.

A family being pulled apart

Carol Guzy’s Separated by ICE, the 2026 Photo of the Year, captures children clinging to their father, Luis, as immigration agents detain him after a court hearing in New York.

Luis is from Ecuador, and his family says he has no criminal record. But you do not need to know his background to understand the photograph. The children’s desperate grip makes a political issue painfully personal. Imagine an ordinary family appointment ending with someone you love being taken away.

The struggle for a bag of flour

In Aid Emergency in Gaza, Saber Nuraldin photographs Palestinians climbing onto an aid truck, trying to obtain flour.

Look at the number of people and the urgency of their movements. Something many of us leave untouched in a kitchen cupboard becomes the centre of an exhausting struggle. The photograph makes hunger visible through action: people reaching, climbing, and refusing to miss a chance to get food.

Women standing together after decades

Victor J. Blue’s The Trials of the Achi Women shows Indigenous Maya Achi women outside a Guatemala City courthouse after three former civil defence patrollers were sentenced for rape and crimes against humanity.

The scene is quieter, but its weight is enormous. These women pursued justice for years. Their presence together conveys dignity and determination, giving the exhibition a moment of hard-won hope.

Watching home burn

Tyrone Siu’s award-winning photograph shows a man crying out as Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court housing complex burns, with his wife trapped inside.

The buildings reveal the scale of the disaster. His expression reveals what that scale actually means.

These are difficult photographs, but they reward attention. Read the captions, pause, and allow each story some space.

Find practical information in this guide to Budapest’s World Press Photo Exhibition 2026.