Worried for the Young One’s Future

• Prize
• Photographer
  Shukri Zali, Malaysia
• Date of Photograph
  online
• Website
  https://www.instagram.com/shukrizali_archive/
• Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/shukrizali_archive/

The Hmong are a transnational people found across China and mainland Southeast Asia, including northern Viet Nam, Laos and Thailand. Their history has been shaped by migration, political pressure and war. Photographed in Bắc Hà, Lào Cai Province, Viet Nam, this portrait shows a Hmong woman with a young boy in the northern highlands, where dress, belief and community memory remain part of everyday cultural life.

Shukri Zali is a Malaysian documentary photographer and graphic designer working between Southeast Asia and France. Since 2004, his long-term project La Marche de l’humanité / Humanity in Motion has traced ordinary lives, cultural memory, faith, labour and human continuity across borders. His black-and-white practice moves between authorial documentary, humanist photojournalism and the visual essay. Recognised by PX3 Paris and IPA, Sūtradhāra and The Earth Remembers Through Us were published by FotoDoc Festival in 2026, while Free Malaysia Today profiled his practice.

Awards 2025 — Bronze Medal, Photoreportage, Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3)

2025 — Nominee, Photojournalism, Black & White Spider Awards, 20th Edition

2024 — 3rd Place and Official Selection, Photoreportage, International Photography Awards (IPA)

2024 — Official Selections, IPA: Everyday Tranquility; Peace Through My Eyes

2023 — Honourable Mentions, Budapest International Foto Awards: Sugbo; Les Champs-Élysées

2023 — Honourable Mention, Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3)

2022 — Honourable Mention, Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3)

2009 — 3rd Place, Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3)