This past weekend as part of worldwide marches on the one-year anniversary of the first Women's March, women and their allies sent a very clear message to the powers that be. BuzzFeed News helped broadcast this message by sending eight women photographers to marches held in states that Trump won in 2016. The resulting images are as confrontational as they are inspiring.
—Gabriel H. Sanchez, photo essay editor, BuzzFeed News
Matt Black is one of the most poetic, insightful photographers documenting poverty in the US. His ongoing series has been shown multiple times over the years, and the newest installment in Time magazine is stunning.
—Kate Bubacz, deputy photo director, BuzzFeed News
Roxy Hervé's "Lovers" series sounds titillating: She photographs real couples having sex. But the work is far from salacious. This is the female gaze at work and Roxy's careful framing of these couples' most intimate moments shows a respect for both her subjects and the act of sex itself. The tight crops bring the human connections into sharp focus, and what emerges are lovingly and maturely captured moments of genuine sexual pleasure between lovers.
—Laura Geiser, photo editor, BuzzFeed News
Even as women march for equal rights, women's bodies continue to be battlefields as reproductive rights are debated, mostly by men, all over the world. This essay pointedly examines the lengths that women have gone to end unwanted pregnancies — and should be a stark reminder that there are consequences for not having access to proper health care.
—K.B.
In this fascinating photo story by BuzzFeed News, photographer Hanna Jarzabek follows along at one of Poland's military profile classes, as children as young as 13 are trained in military tactics and warfare. While courses like these are known to prepare students for careers in military and law enforcement, pictures of teens handling handguns and assault rifles rather than iPhones and Tide Pods is quite jarring, to say the least.
—G.H.S.
The stress, frustration, and aggravation of the government shutdown last week can be clearly seen etched on the faces of lawmakers and journalists alike in this elegant series by the Washington Post staff. The images offer great insight behind the scenes of the talking heads and talking points that dominated coverage last week, showing a softer, human side of our representatives struggling to make this messy democracy work.
—K.B.
Fábio Erdos' series of trash pickers at a landfill in Brazil sheds light on the fact that there are people for whom trash scavenging is their livelihood. With the landfill set to shut down, the estimated 1,200 pickers and the adjacent town of 35,000 people are worried about their financial futures. Here, Erdos introduces us to some of these trash scavengers, to humanize an issue that may seem easy to dismiss otherwise.
—L.G.
Here are the most moving and breathtaking pictures from the past week.
—G.H.S.