Here Are The Most Powerful Photos Of 2021

This year was marked by incredible moments of perseverance and hope amid overlapping tragedies. These are the pictures that defined 2021.



The capitol building, with lights on inside, is seen through smoke as hundreds of police and protesters carrying trump signs are on the steps in a chaotic scene
A woman wearing a Trump 2020 flag as a cape stands in front of a noose that was erected in front of the Capitol building
A man buries his face in his hands while kneeling at an altar
A man in glasses squats on the ground next to a young boy in front of a mural of a woman crying over the body of a man with burning buildings behind him
An older woman lying on a couch is comforted by another older woman
An older woman on a bed looks shocked as a man enters her room with a woman
A half-collapsed building with debris strewn about
A giant container ship seen going through a canal with a smaller traditional dhouw in the foreground
The interior lights of a call light up the face of a baby and the hand of a woman on an otherwise dark street
A woman clutches an umbrella and a delivery person struggles through a puddle in traffic as the streets flood and heavy rain falls
A patch of green with sprinklers is seen throughout a dry desert landscape
A house seen as a fireball in a forest on fire
An older woman dressed in black clutches her chest while the landscape behind her burns orange
Several funeral pyres burn as more bodies are brought in by people in hazmat suits
Thousands of flags form a field of white with a person sitting in the middle
The queen in black in a mask seen looking out from a car window
A young girl is pulled out of rubble by a group of men after a bombing in Gaza
A man holds his eyes with one hand and holds a crying young woman close with his other hand while in the hallway of a building
A huge crowd of people is held back by soldiers in riot gear wielding batons
Two men in their underwear covered in welts standing in an office
A woman holding a baby under a plastic tarp in an open field
People seen living under makeshift structures made of blankets and sticks under a bridge
The statue of Robert E Lee on a horse is lifted from its pedestal by a crane seen in silhouette
Simone Biles with her hands up about to approach the beam
Sunisa lee hugs her coach on the sidelines
Four full grown elephants and two baby elephants sleep all together in a pile of brush, photographed from above
An older woman in a wheelchair grips the hands of a man standing behind her, she is wearing a mask


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