VII Community Presents: Sony World Photography Award Finalists

June 25, 2026
12:00–13:15PM EST
The fish belong in the river, but the river is gone. A man stands in the water, while balloons shaped like dolphins float above, a parody of joy. Nature is replaced by plastic, survival is presented as celebration. Urbanisation turns rivers into markets, creatures into commodities, and memory into something fleeting. © Jubair Ahmed Arnob.
Every few months, this series invites photographers from the VII Community to present their stories. VII Community provides ongoing education and support to a network of The VII Foundation’s alums. VII Community is a program of The VII Foundation in partnership with PhotoWings.
 
In this episode, we welcome members of the VII Community to discuss their recent Sony World Photography Award projects and achievements.
 
Bangladesh-based photographer Jubair Ahmed Arnob, winner of the World Photography Award 2026 Student Category,presents his project The Place Where I Used to Play, which explores the transformation of Dhaka and the disappearing landscapes of his youth, reflecting how communities preserve memory even as urbanization erases the past.
 
Peruvian photographer Sergio Meléndez presents his project Things Fall Back into Place at Night and Other Stories, which was shortlisted for both the Creative category and the Latin America Professional Award. His work considers the nature of fragmented memory and how home, body, and trauma intersect through traces, gaps, and enduring scars.
 
Julián Cabral from Argentina will share his work Triplets, which was shortlisted in this year’s Student Category. Triplets narrates the lives of Julián and his two brothers, documenting the passage of time and showing what life is like for three middle-class young people in Argentina today.
 
This discussion is hosted by contributing photographer to the VII Foundation, Anush Babajanyan.
 
The view from the photographer’s room towards a night heavy with clouds.© Sergio Meléndez
Julian Cabral - Triplets

Participants

Armenian photographer Anush Babajanyan focuses her work on social narratives and personal stories. In addition to working extensively in the Caucasus, she photographs in Central Asia and around the world.
Jubair Ahmed Arnob is a documentary photographer based in Bangladesh whose work explores socio-environmental transformations and the quiet narratives that often remain unseen. His practice is informed by an anthropological lens, alongside a deep engagement with critical theory, psychoanalytic approaches, and sustained field-based research.
Julián Cabral (b. 2004, Argentina) is a documentary photographer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He focuses on long-term personal projects that seek to explore the relationship between human beings and their environment. Cabral views photography as a tool for personal healing and social transformation.
Sergio Meléndez (Lima, Peru, 2000) is a photographer and visual artist whose work explores memory, domestic space, and the ways trauma inhabits both the body and architecture. Through photography and installation, he develops visual investigations rooted in intimate experience, engaging broader questions of identity, territory, and silence within Latin American contexts.