“What did I know about Chechnya before last week? For someone who grew up in the 1990s the very word Chechnya meant a string of grainy images on TV showing people in battered camouflage outfits, shooting at each other amid destruction and ruin. Fear, wahhabis, Shamil Basayev, terrorism, mountains: these were the words that used to spring to my mind when someone mentioned Chechnya”. – Maxim Shemetov. Photo: Special forces officers stand guard during a government-organised event marking Chechen language day in the centre of the Chechen capital Grozny April 25, 2013. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

This image of a young bareback rider was taken in the village of Palenque de San Basilio, in Colombia’s Bolívar department. Founded by freed slaves in the 17th century, it became the first free town in the Americas, following a decree by the Spanish crown. Most of today’s inhabitants are direct descendants of those slaves and have preserved many of their customs, including their own language, Palenquero. (Photo by Sebastián Suki Beláustegui/The Guardian)

Japanese Yuuka Hasumi, 17, and Ibuki Ito, 17, also from Japan, who want to become K-pop stars, perform at an Acopia School party in Seoul, South Korea, March 16, 2019. Acopia is a prep school offering young Japanese a shot at K-pop stardom, teaching them the dance moves, the songs and also the language. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

Gianluca Pardelli is something of an expert on markets. For the past two years, he’s travelled across eastern Europe, from Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan, Moldova to Georgia, photographing them. Here: Telavi, Georgia. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)

The Kingdom of Pagan (also commonly known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire) was the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-day Burma (Myanmar). Pagan's 250-year rule over the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery laid the foundation for the ascent of Burmese language and culture, the spread of Burman ethnicity in Upper Burma, and the growth of Theravada Buddhism in Burma and in mainland Southeast Asia.

Invasion (laser girls) 2017. “I’m always thinking about my art practice, so any experience I have may spike a visual when I have an idea in mind. An example is that, when I was thinking about the Invasion series, I was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds (1963). I love Hitchcock’s other movies and have been contemplating a series based on Rear Window (1954). I also find inspiration outside the cinema in music clips and magazines”. (Photo by Michael Cook/Perimeter Books)

Kenyan activists (L) resist arrest from police officers, as police chased after activists from different social justice centers based in informal settlements, who were marching in protest against police brutality and harassment in their communities on Sab’a Sab’a day (or Seven-Seven), in Nairobi, Kenya, 07 July 2021. Police used tear gas to disperse the protestors and arrested several of them during the protest. The Sab’a Sab’a day commemorates protests and government crackdown on a multi-party democracy movement in the 1990’s. (Photo by Daniel Irungu/EPA/EFE)

A man reacts inside the projection mapping and interactive installation known as “Illusion Road” at the multi-dimensional media art gallery Immersify KL in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 04 March 2025. Immersify KL attracts visitors with interactive installations, high-definition visuals, and 3D spatial sound, creating breathtaking zones, including the country's first 360-degree, 12-meter-high projection space inside a 30,000-square-foot area with 11 sections of different immersive zones. (Photo by Fazry Ismail/EPA)