Skip to content

Home
News
Football 2026
Sport
Business
Technology
Health
Culture
Arts
Travel
Earth
Audio
Video
Live

Home

News

US & Canada

UK

UK Politics

England

N. Ireland

N. Ireland Politics

Scotland

Scotland Politics

Wales

Wales Politics

Africa

Asia

China

India

Australia

Europe

Latin America

Middle East

In Pictures

BBC InDepth

BBC Verify

Football 2026

Sport

Business

World of Business

Technology of Business

NYSE Opening Bell

Technology

Artificial Intelligence

Intelligence Revolution

AI v the Mind

Tech Now

Health

Culture

Film & TV

Music

Art & Design

Style

Books

Entertainment News

Arts

Arts in Motion

Travel

Destinations

Africa

Antarctica

Asia

Australia and Pacific

Caribbean & Bermuda

Central America

Europe

Middle East

North America

South America

World’s Table

Culture & Experiences

Adventures

The SpeciaList

Earth

Science

Natural Wonders

Climate Solutions

Sustainable Business

Green Living

Audio

Podcast Categories

Radio

Audio FAQs

Video

BBC Maestro

Discover the World

Live

Live News

Live Sport

Site search

The most striking images of 2017

20 December 2017

February: The kung fu women of Kabul

Reuters/Mohammad Ismail February: The kung fu women of Kabul — February: The kung fu women of Kabul

Watch

Japan's photo tomb that contained a historic legacy

The Japanese photographer who buried hundreds of photos and the journey to revive his legacy.

'Dali Atomicus' by Salvador Dali and Philippe Halsman

How the surreal 'Dali Atomicus' was captured

In 1948 a famous artist and an innovative portrait photographer attempted to create something unbelievable.

Striking images capturing the 'dark underbelly of America'

Why legendary crime photographer Weegee offers a crucial lens to understand the American psyche.

'Weed nuns' v narcos: Meet Mexico's Sisters of the Valley

'Weed nuns' v narcos: Meet Mexico's Sisters of the Valley

The Sisters of the Valley are a group of women defying narco traffickers and tradition at the same time.

Artemisia Gentileschi

The naked portrait covered up for centuries

Artemisia Gentileschi: Revealing the true beauty of a censored painting.

Portugal paving

The surprising story of a 16th Century rhino called Ganda

Did a 16th Century rhino start the Portuguese pavement art tradition?

Myths and Legends

Is this the new nude?

Yushi Li's new take on erotic photography

Chinese-born, London-based photographer Yushi Li explores how the male body can be eroticised in pictures.

Amilton Grand Hotel

The incredible afterlife of an abandoned luxury hotel

Amilton Neves Cuna documents the history of his country through the lens of an iconic Mozambiquan building.

A Swedish photographer's radical take on nudity

The naked pictures that question how we look at the body

Photographer Mikael Schulz takes naked pictures that convey a radical message of self-acceptance and diversity.

The iconic images capturing the magic of the 80s

In his images from the 80s, Jamel Shabazz captures the vibrancy of life underground in the New York City subway.

Lost slate mines' hidden world revealed by explorer

Slate mines: Hidden world's beauty revealed by explorer

The hidden world of forgotten slate mines in north Wales has been revealed by a photographer.

Getty Images 971636894

The forbidden erotica of ancient Pompeii

A unique collection of erotic art was found perfectly preserved in the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Guy Bellingham Photography

Photographer's images 'like ghosts coming out the mist'

Guy Bellingham is a wet plate photographer, using a technique that was first developed in 1851.

The stunning photos of an island's shipwreck graveyard

A photographer is paying tribute to the lives lost to a small island known as a graveyard for shipwrecks.

Still from Bridgerton series with Golda Rosheuvel

What if we reimagined the English Renaissance?

A photographic study of the slang term 'flexing'.

The microcosm and the macrocosm of Frida and Diego

How an iconic artist couple maintained an open marriage and inspired each other.

The world-famous couple that changed photography forever

The world-famous couple that changed photography forever

The most iconic couple in the history of war photography were not actually who they claimed to be.

Photography's hidden bias

The dark history of photography lighting

Celebrity photographer Marc Baptiste reveals a lesser known but widespread bias in photography.

The open-air lab testing the world's deadliest poisons

Dugway Proving Ground is one of the most secretive of American military zones.

Black Photographer

The black Britons who've 'broken the glass ceiling'

British photographer John Ferguson hopes to "inspire" young black Britons through his photos.

More from the BBC

Detail of mountain and blue sky in Franklin Carmichael's Lone Lake (1929) (Credit: Alamy)

The paintings with 'a distinct Canadian character'

The Group of Seven helped create a distinct, modern Canadian identity in the 1920s. What is their legacy – and how does their work relate to a 1970s group of Indigenous artists?

Crop of The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5,1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment (Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York/ Gift of Mrs Russell Sage)

The image that fuelled the American Revolution

How a gory depiction of the 1770 Boston Massacre by Paul Revere ignited fury against British rule, becoming arguably the most effective example of propaganda in US history.

A cropped version of Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird by Frida Kahlo (Credit: Nickolas Muray/ Collection of Mexican Art)

The pain and passion in a Frida Kahlo masterpiece

A hummingbird, a spider monkey, a black cat and dragonflies – what the animal imagery in an iconic 1940 painting tells us about the artist's trauma, resilience and defiant desire.

A cropped version of Saint Sebastian by Guido Reni (Credit: Getty Images)

How 3rd-Century saint Sebastian became a gay icon

A Roman soldier who was killed for his Christian beliefs, Saint Sebastian has been a hero for gay men over the centuries – from Oscar Wilde to Keith Haring. Here's why.

Cropped version of Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night (Credit: Collection Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands)

'Five details in Van Gogh's first starry night'

With his first "starry night" painting in Arles in 1888, Vincent van Gogh transformed an ordinary city square into something extraordinary – here's how he did it, and what it means.

Home
News
Football 2026
Business
Technology
Health
Culture
Arts
Travel
Earth
Sport
Audio
Video
Live
Weather
BBC Shop
BritBox

The BBC is in multiple languages

Read the BBC In your own language

BBC News Brasil

BBC News Mundo (Spanish)

BBC News မြန်မာ (Burmese)

BBC News 中文 (Chinese)

BBC News Indonesia

BBC News 코리아 (Korean)

BBC News ไทย (Thai)

BBC News Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)

BBC News Azərbaycanca (Azeri)

BBC News Magyarul (Hungarian)

BBC News Кыргыз Кызматы (Kyrgyz)

BBC News Polska (Polish)

BBC News România (Romanian)

BBC News Русская служба (Russian)

BBC News na srpskom (Serbian)

BBC News Україна (Ukrainian)

BBC News O'zbek (Uzbek)

BBC News عربي (Arabic)

BBC News فارسی (Persian)

BBC News Türkçe (Turkish)

BBC News বাংলা (Bengali)

BBC News دری (Dari)

BBC News ગુજરાતી (Gujarati)

BBC News हिन्दी (Hindi)

BBC News मराठी (Marathi)

BBC News नेपाली (Nepali)

BBC News සිංහල (Sinhala)

BBC News ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi)

BBC News Afaan Oromoo

BBC News አማርኛ (Amharic)

BBC News Afrique (French)

BBC News Gaelic NAIDHEACHDAN

BBC News Ìgbò

BBC News Japanese 日本語

BBC News Gahuza

BBC News Pidgin

BBC News Somali

BBC News Swahili

BBC News தமிழ் (Tamil)

BBC News తెలుగు (Telugu)

BBC News ትግርኛ (Tigrinya)

BBC News اردو (Urdu)

BBC News Yorùbá

BBC News World Service

Follow BBC on:

Terms of Use
Subscription Terms
About the BBC
Privacy Policy
Cookies
Accessibility Help
Contact the BBC
Advertise with us
Do not share or sell my info
BBC.com Help & FAQs
Content Index
Set Preferred Source

Copyright 2026 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.