We’ve entered a strange moment in history where every year feels somehow both a burning furnace of upheaval and recreation and a frozen monolith we are made to unwillingly re-encounter over and over. The images captured by TIME’s global roster of photojournalists over the course of 2022 reveal how deeply these two opposing trends penetrated society and public discourse this past year.
Photos showing the grief of the Uvalde, Texas community over the horror that occurred at a local elementary school on May 24, in which an 18-year-old man fatally shot 19 students and two teachers, highlight how gun violence and mass shootings continued to be one of the great failings of the American project in 2022. In other areas, the country went backwards when it comes to human rights—despite what the voting public seems to want. The Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade flew in the face of public opinion, as captured in these photos taken in March; indeed, analysts have said that the pro-choice sentiment shared by the majority of Americans helped the Democrats limit losses in this years midterm elections.
Meanwhile, some aspects of geopolitics have also taken on an atavistic hue. The Russian invasion of Ukraine was not so much a novel shift in international relations, but rather an effort by Vladimir Putin to return the country he has led with an iron fist for over two decades back to its Soviet-era imperialist designs. At the same time, however, Ukraine has leveraged the guile of its people and the support of NATO to keep authoritarianism at bay. And some of the most compelling images captured this year outside of the states were those of women in Iran protesting the decades-long religious laws that have made misogynism public policy in the country. Both examples suggest that despite the efforts of a few to turn back the clock, the will of the many to move forward may yet win out.
Perhaps nowhere is this dynamic more fully realized than in the world of climate change. On the one hand, images of the devastating flooding in Pakistan and in post-Hurricane Ian Florida show how ill prepared we are for the environmental catastrophe experts have been warning about for decades. On the other, photojournalism on Finland’s project to implement a fully circular economy by 2050, and the Kichwa Indigenous people’s bold effort to protect their sacred Piatúa River in Ecuador, to name two examples, offers a sense of the wide range of ways the world is finally, in 2022, recognizing climate change as a problem this generation cannot push off to the future.—Elijah Wolfson, Editorial Director
Below is a selection of some of the most impactful photos TIME published this year.
A rain poncho over an image of Queen Elizabeth II in London, Sept. 9, the day after her death at age of 96.
Jack Davison for TIME
Street scenes in London on a rainy day after the announcement of the Queen’s death.
Jack Davison for TIME
Annie Flanagan for TIME
Maxim Dondyuk for TIME
Ed Kashi—VII for TIME
Lucy Garrett for TIME
Diana Markosian for TIME
Christopher Payne for TIME
Forough Alaei for TIME
Anastasia Taylor-Lind for TIME
Kevin Cooley—Redux for TIME
Natalie Keyssar for TIME
Saumya Khandelwal for TIME
Daniele Volpe for TIME
September Dawn Bottoms for TIME
Cedric Arnold for TIME
Gillian Laub for TIME
Black NFT artists gather at 17 E. 126th St in Harlem, New York City, for a photo shoot led by Brandon Ruffin.
Gioncarlo Valentine for TIME
Gioncarlo Valentine for TIME
Christopher Morris for TIME
Simu Liu, star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and 2022 TIME 100 honoree, at the TIME 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, on June 8.
Landon Nordeman for TIME
A Northrop Grumman trainee takes measurements of an aircraft engine duct during a manufacturing course in Palmdale, Calif. on Nov. 7. Mechanics are required to go through weeks of training before they’re authorized to work on the B-21 stealth bomber, which was publicly unveiled on Dec. 2.
Christopher Payne for TIME
Sinna Nasseri for TIME
Ciril Jazbec for TIME
Evan Angelastro for TIME
Ruddy Roye for TIME
Sebastián López Brach for TIME
Peter Fisher for TIME
Biology teacher Najiba Ebrahimi and her cousin, who both fled Afghanistan due to the ongoing conflict there, holding up a tapestry she embroidered and brought to Sao Paulo from home, on July 10.
Luisa Dörr for TIME
Afghan Air Force pilots Hasina Najibi and Raihana Rahimi fled to the U.S. last autumn after the Taliban takeover. Now they make a living waiting tables in Fort Myers, Fla., where they are pictured here on July 5.
Sabiha Çimen—Magnum Photos for TIME
Andres Kudacki for TIME
Ingmar Björn Nolting for TIME
A Ukrainian soldier observes pro-Russian forces amassed on the front line in the breakaway Donetsk region of Ukraine on Feb. 8.
Maxim Dondyuk for TIME
Bryan Schutmaat for TIME
M. Levy for TIME
Benjamin Rasmussen for TIME
Acacia Johnson for TIME
Max Pinckers for TIME
Andrés Yépez for TIME
Natalie Keyssar for TIME
Hassaan Gondal for TIME
Alexey Navalny on a monitor screen at the TV studio of his headquarters-in-exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Jan. 12. In the TV studio, Navalny’s allies film video investigations that are broadcast into Russia, routinely finding an audience of millions.
Rafał Milach—Magnum Photos
Shuran Huang for TIME
Annie Flanagan for TIME
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TIME Photo Department
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