Image of Women Searching for Water in West Bengal Honored on UN Human Rights Day

(New York, NY — December 10, 2021) — Photography 4 Humanity, the photography pillar of the High Note Global Initiative, proudly announces Apratim Pal as the winner of the 2021 High Note Global Prize in Photography. His haunting image, A Thirsty Earth — taken in the cracked, drought-stricken plains of West Bengal, India — captures women walking long distances in search of water amid one of the most existential pressures of the climate crisis: the slow, irreversible disappearance of a basic human resource.

The announcement, made today on United Nations Human Rights Day, draws a clear line between climate change and the lived reality of those who bear its costs first. Across India and beyond, the deepening drought cycles of recent years have placed extraordinary burdens on women and girls, who in many rural communities walk farther and farther each season to bring water home — work that pulls children from school, exhausts the body, and erodes economic possibility long before the well runs fully dry. Pal’s image distills that vast and gendered crisis into a single, unforgettable frame.

In official partnership with United Nations Human Rights, Photography 4 Humanity invites amateur and professional photographers from around the world to bear witness to the human dimension of our most urgent challenges. As one of the two founding pillars of the High Note Global Initiative — alongside High Note Music — the program stands for the conviction that a single image can move the conscience of the world.

“The climate crisis does not arrive everywhere at once — it arrives first at the well, at the riverbed, at the empty bucket. Apratim Pal’s photograph captures the moment millions of women face every morning, and the burden the world has yet to lift from their shoulders. Recognizing his work on UN Human Rights Day is a reminder that access to water is not a development goal alone — it is a human right.” — David Clark, founder, High Note Global

Pal’s winning image and the work of the Top 10 Finalists were exhibited at Fotografiska New York on UN Human Rights Day, December 10, 2021, before being published by the United Nations on UN.org for global audiences.

For more information about Photography 4 Humanity and the High Note Global Initiative, visit www.photography4humanity.com.