People nominee

In the photo series, "New year's ritual",Jan Janssen photographs the New Year's Eve tradition of the bear dance in the Romanian cities of Asău and Dărmănești. Every year, on December 30-31, many inhabitants of Romania come together to symbolically initiate the new year.
The tradition surrounding the bear dance is rooted in the culture of the Geto-Dacians,
the ancestors of present-day Romania who lived over a thousand years ago. To them, the bear was a sacred animal with healing powers, which is reflected in their many legends surrounding the bear. Even in the twenty-first century, most inhabitants own their own bearskin, in spite of them being costly possessions that are only used once a year. Despite the global Western commercialisation of the New Year celebration, the local communities of Romania prefer to celebrate this very ancient tradition in large numbers every year, by donning the skins of a thousand ancestors. It testifies to a community full of love, bound by tradition and the legacy of age-old legends.

As a social travelphotographer, Jan Janssen capture the moments he recognises in his fellow human beings, especially those elsewhere in the world. In everyday moments, he finds the same needs, insecurities or pleasures that all people enjoy in their lives - albeit to different degrees. Travelling is inseparable from Janssen's photographic pratice. On the one hand, travelling is an opportunity to discover who you are yourself. By travelling to other places, Jan seeks precisely the things we have in common. In a world of polarisation and contrasts, sometimes even on one continent, Janssen settles geographical and symbolic boundaries by photographing people in a pure essence. He photographs the richness of our most basic human needs, like freedom, family and security - or, conversely, the absence of their obviousness. To create his photographs, Janssen works on location for long periods of time. He often returns to the same place during subsequent trips. Here he builds a bond with the local people, a bond based on mutual respect and dignity. This 'photgraphing with a free heart' allows him to get as close to people as possible. Only in this way can he penetrate to the essence of their being, and then capture it on camera.