The photo ‘Songs of Freedom’ by ghanaian photographer Michael Aboya was announced winner of the Agora Awards 2019 competition at a ceremony held in Barcelona yesterday. He received $25,000 (22,445€) in prize money, the highest contest prize to date.
The competition was hosted by free-to-use photography app Agora and received over 130,000 submissions from 193 countries. ‘Songs of freedom’ gathered more than 500,000 votes to win the award.
With photos portraying a cheerful and optimistic representation of the life around him, Michael Aboya aims to inspire a change in the way people perceive Ghana and the African continent in general.
The vision for ‘Songs of Freedom’ came to Aboya while he was at home, listening to Bob Marley. When ‘Redemption Song’ began playing, he immediately wanted to bring the legendary song to life with his camera.
Songs of Freedom’ was shot in Labadi, one of Ghana’s oldest neighborhoods located in the coastal part of Accra, the country’s capital. The local kids from fishermen families who live on this beach have always been a source of inspiration for Michael.
[…] is the winner of the 2019 Agora Awards. With his $25,000 prize, Michael plans to invest in his passion and skills to bring his art even […]