The cows in these photos aren't grazing on grass. They're standing on a hill of trash, eating whatever organic waste they can find, and their backs happen to look exactly like the landfill beneath them. That visual trick just won an Indonesian photographer one of the biggest titles in the industry.

At a glance:

• Winner: Yudha Kusuma Putera, based in Yogyakarta
• Competition: Hasselblad Masters 2026, Art category
• Entries: over 108,000 photos from more than 160 countries
• Prize: a Hasselblad medium-format camera, two XCD lenses, and €5,000 in creative funding

Yudha Kusuma Putera, a photographer based in Yogyakarta, was named a Hasselblad Master 2026 in the Art category on June 30, 2026, for his series "Waste Colonialism (Sapi-Sapi Piyungan)." The competition, run by the Hasselblad Foundation, drew more than 108,000 submissions from over 160 countries, and only seven photographers worldwide walked away with the title. Yudha's series was shot at the Piyungan landfill in Bantul, Yogyakarta.

What Is "Waste Colonialism" About ?

The series documents cows that live and feed at TPA Piyungan, one of Yogyakarta's main landfills. Scavengers sort through the trash for anything sellable, and cows eat the leftover organic waste alongside them. Yudha photographed the animals' backs one by one, then layered the images into collages that echo the shape of the trash mountains around them.

The idea came from something close to home. Yudha said trash collection near his own house happened only once a week or once every ten days, which pushed him to research how developed countries manage waste differently, and how that imbalance gets exported. That research became the term he uses for the project: waste colonialism, the practice of shifting the burden of waste to poorer places, whether across borders or just across a city.

He spent around six months on the project, doing nearly everything himself, shooting stills, recording video, and gathering field audio, letting the concept shift as he learned more from repeated visits to Piyungan.

"The images look simple and direct on the surface, and yet they consistently resist easy reading, generating a sense of visual uncertainty that keeps the viewer engaged and questioning," said Kalle Sanner, Executive Director of the Hasselblad Foundation and chair of the Grand Jury.

How Much Is the Hasselblad Masters Prize Worth?
Winning gets Yudha a Hasselblad medium-format camera body, two XCD lenses, and €5,000 in project funding, plus a spot in the official Hasselblad Masters book. Judges picked one winner per category from Landscape, Portrait, Street, Architecture, Art, Wildlife, and Project 21, narrowing a 70-photographer shortlist down to seven Masters total.

Yudha says the win won't change his subject matter, just his tools. He's planning to keep making work with social impact, now with better equipment behind him.