© Thomas Lekfeldt/ Extra Bladet/Moment/ 1st Place World Understanding Award

Vibe and her father Michael enjoy a playful moment in the bathroom at their home in Hundested, Denmark.

The Annenberg Space for Photography presents its next exhibit, Pictures of THE YEAR International (POYi), with images from one of the most prestigious photojournalism competitions in the world. The exhibit titled, THE YEAR, showcases captivating print, digital and video imagery from some of the most notable events of 2009.

The exhibit will show approximately 80 prints and over 1,000 of digital selections, chosen from more than 45,000 global entries.  The print and digital photographs on display reflect the seminal events and issues that shaped our world in 2009, with views of youth culture, soldiers’ stories, the continued economic crisis, environmental disasters, pop culture, Communist and Middle East conflict, animal extinction, U.S. healthcare, and more.

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“I took this photo at a wedding celebration in a tiny village in Tajikistan’s Pamir mountains. The guests all squeezed into the central room of the house, and the opening in the roof cast a fantastic light on people as they took turns dancing. These are Ismailis—Shia muslims whose spiritual leader Aga Khan (pictured on the back wall) is a descendant of Muhammad. It was the end of a bumpy journey up the Bartang river valley, one of the most isolated spots in the Pamirs.

“The photo is part of a broader project about water in Central Asia. I’m following the two rivers that flow from the pristine Pamir and Tian Shan mountains, criss-cross national borders, get diverted into irrigation canals, and peter out before reaching the Aral Sea. It’s about a forsaken landscape, but it’s the glimpses of human life along the way that I hope will give the work meaning.”

—Carolyn Drake