“The voice constantly whirrs round in my head :
‘I’m too fat, too big, taking up too much space.”’ Natalie

Felicia Webb is a documentary photographer engaged in humanistic projects on various social issues. She has worked all over the world including Africa, Asia, Latin American, USA and Europe. Her work has been published by the Sunday Times Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Time, Newsweek, Le Monde , Telegraph Magazine, Independent Magazine, among others. She has worked for several charities and NGOs including Christian Aid, Save the Children, Oxfam, and others. Her projects have received many awards including World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, the NPPA/Nikon Documentary Sabbatical Grant, the Visa D’Or Magazine, a Hasselblad Foundation grant and the World Press Masterclass. Her work has been exhibited in the USA, UK, Norway, Sweden, Holland and France.

About the Photograph:

For the past three and a half years, Felicia Webb has closely followed the lives of a handful of Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa sufferers. Eating disorders have become an increasingly pervasive malady in the United Kingdom and the United States, and it has been Webb’s mission to portray these conditions in a truthful, personal, and sensitive light. Her photographic essay “Nil By Mouth” couples personal testimony with compelling portraiture. Through this presentation, she aims to raise awareness about the severity and complexity of the illnesses, dispel many of its common misconceptions, and to encourage and educate sufferers, youth, and politicians to be proactive and resourceful in their encounters with eating disorders. (more…)

View From a Mobile Clinic Window. Qalqilya, West Bank

Markus Marcetic (b.1972) is based in Stockholm, Sweden. After studying media/communications, eastern European and African studies at Uppsala University he switched to photojournalism and has worked as a photojournalist since 1998. Focusing on human rights issues Markus traveled in Africa, Asia and eastern Europe on assignment with numerous NGO’s. Markus has worked for most major Swedish magazines and newspapers and foreign publications. He has also worked as a photo editor for the largest daily in Sweden. He also often lectures on photography and photojournalism and has been awarded prizes in the Swedish Picture of The Year competition in 2004 and 2005. Markus is a member of the Swedish photo agency Moment.

About the Photograph:

“I was in the West bank on assignment for the Swedish NGO Diakonia, an organization I have been working in close cooperation with for years”. Markus has recently published a book called “Kids”. It’s a collection of photos from different stories in Europe, Africa and Asia. “Often these images summed the story I was trying to tell in a way that images of adults rarely do. Children are as much a part of conflicts and human tragedies as adults are, but rarely they get to be the center of attention in stories we read or see in newspapers and magazines. Still around half of the world’s population is made up of children and young people under the age of twenty-four.”

Port Elizabeth, South Africa 2006

Samantha Reinders (b.1977) is a freelance photographer based in her native Cape Town, South Africa. She moved back to South Africa after completing her MA at Ohio University, and interning, in 2005, for US News & World Report magazine. She is not 100% certain when her career actually began – but thinks it was either somewhere in the hills of Appalachia, or sandwiched between two other photographers in the press pool in the Oval Office. Either way, she’s glad it did because it has, among other things, allowed her to chase penguins, fly on Air Force One, swim with sharks and meet a collection of interesting people – from business men to homeless men, and from grannies at a bake-sale to a triple murderer behind bars. In this way she thinks the profession of photojournalism is a privilege. Some of Samantha’s clients include: US News & World Report, Time, The New York Times, L’Express, Der Spiegel, Park Avenue, The Chicago Tribune, SLAM, National Geographic Books, Smithsonian, Readers Digest and The London Financial Times.

About the Photograph:

“This photograph is from a larger essay on Township Tourism in South Africa – a phenomenon with increasing popularity since the countries first democratic elections in 1994. What is today a million-dollar industry has been the center of much controversy over the years. Is it a voyeuristic, making poverty into a theme park – or does it do much to bring money, jobs and opportunities to areas that need them most? This 2006 image shows a Dutch couple that had visited New Brighton Township in Port Elizabeth in 2000. Overwhelmed by what they encountered, they spent the next few years fundraising back home and sent several ship container loads of furniture and school equipment back to the township. Here they visit one of the schools and meet some of the students. “

Old and New Shanghai. China 2007

Boris Svartzman is a French-Argentinian freelance photographer based in Shanghai. He has lived in China for seven years, including two years studying at the university in Chengdu and Shanghai. He graduated in France with a degree in philosophy and sociology. Photography and social studies are two complementary ways for him to describe the world. His series on China’s demolition has been selected in the Paris Match Students Photojournalism Competition (2005), in Visa pour l’Image Photojournalism Festival (2006), and published in Foto 8. He is represented by Prospekt Photo Agency in Italy.

About the Photograph:

“This photograph is part of a series about the demolition of old neighborhoods in Shanghai which I considered the first chapter in the urbanisation of China. It took time to gain access and trust to photograph the living conditions of the underpaid workers.. They weren’t used to having human relations in a city where they are forced to hide from the public. They are recycling materials of the demolished traditional houses in this photograph. After talking and showing an interest in their work some of them opened their doors and invited me to dinner.”

Woman praying at Sveta Nedelyz Church. Sofia, Bulgaria

Luiz Maximiano was born in Brazil in 1978. After earning a BA in Social Communication at ESPM, in São Paulo, and a brief period working in the marketing department of companies like Sharp and Levi’s, he moved to the Netherlands in 2003 and became a photographer. In early 2007 he was awarded the Canon Prize as best photojournalist under 30 in the Netherlands. A nominee of both the World Press Photo Masterclass and PDN’s 30, he attended the Eddie Adams Workshop, in 2005, and the Missouri Photo Workshop, in 2006. His work has appeared in publications such as Marie Claire, Le Figaro Magazine, L’Espresso, Folha de S.Paulo, the Guardian and many others. He is based in Amsterdam.

About the Photograph:

As Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union in 2007, both countries will face similar challenges as they still suffer the economic consequences from their Communist past as well as corruption and high criminality rates. Most people make only the equivalent of a couple hundred dollars a month and unemployment is a big problem. The Roma minority is widely neglected everywhere and very few people believe that something significant will improve in their lives. The general idea is that Romanians and Bulgarians will be something like second class citizens in this new Europe.

Memory Denied: Turkey and the Armenian Genocide

Kathryn Cook (b 1979) is an American photographer based in Istanbul who is represented by Agence Vu and Prospekt fotografi. Her project on Turkey examines the impact of the Armenian massacres of the early 20th century and the scars it left on the country’s national identity. Turkey still refuses to officially label it “genocide,” a word Cook uses in the title of the project. Cook has worked as an Associated Press photographer in Panama, freelanced for a variety of publications including Time and The New York Times, Stern, Newsweek and was featured in PDN’s 30 emerging photographers. Her project Memory Denied was the recipient of aftermath Project award the in 2008.

About the Photograph:

“An Armenian man from Aleppo holds the photo of his mother, who survived the journey through SE Turkey to Aleppo, Syria. His memory is of course created out of her memory, as she passed down what she saw to him. Another reason the photo isn’t in focus in this picture. This passing down of memory is also an interesting aspect to this project, as it happened so long ago that children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren have a different collective memory. The diaspora and politics have also influenced it. In Turkey this is especially interesting because of the political situation with not recognizing or discussing the past. What does a memory/collective memory “denied” feel like? And for me, what does it feel like visually? That is one of the main themes I am trying to explore… among others.”

Instant Woman, Slovakia

For the past 10 years Lucia Nimcova (b 1977, Slovakia) has been creating books, multimedia and exhibits. Her projects expand the documentary concept and explore personal, social and cultural issues in Central European society. Lucia’s awards and grants include: International Studio & Curatorial Program, NYC., Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Germany, Fotografia Baume & Mercier Award, Italy, Asia-Europe Foundation, Singapore, World Press Photo Master Class and many others.

About the Photograph:

“I have been documenting the life of women in Central Europe since 2002. I began as a student, because I wanted to find answers to my personal questions. I needed to deal with the fact that I am a woman and through my work I was searching for what it is to be a woman in Slovak society. Eastern European societies have undergone massive transformations in the past few years. Woman are taking examples from and idealizing western ways of life. Traditions are disappearing and intergenerational conflict is inevitable. The focus of life is becoming less immediate and increasingly aspirant.”

Sufi shrine in the city of Multan, Pakistan

Aaron Huey grew up in a small town in Wyoming on the edge of a field that grew both beets and barley, alternating each year to enrich the soil quality. Huey escaped small town Wyoming only to find himself living in an old Communist apartment complex in Bratislava, Slovakia, where, at the age of 18, he studied as a Rotary Scholar. For his work on Pine Ridge Indian reservation he won second place from POYi and was shortlisted for the Alexia grant in addition to being featured at the Festival Visa in Perpignan. Aaron was named PDN’s top 30 emerging photographers in 2007 and was recently awarded a National Geographic Expedition Council Grant to hitchhike across Siberia.

About the Photograph:

“These images were taken during a month long trip through the shrines of Pakistan in 2006. I hope that these photographs can begin to balance out all the images of burning effigies, violent Anti-American protests, IED attacks, and suicide bombers, that consistently appear on the covers of our newspapers and magazines. These images over time, will become a window into a world of music, dance, poetry, and above all LOVE in Islam, something we rarely see in the western press.”

This essay begins in Pakistan and will expand through 2008 and 2009 to include a look at Sufism all over the world. Sufism, or Mystic Islam, is a school of Islam that transcends the division of Sunni and Shia, offering a message of Peace and Love through Music (Qawwali), dance the dervishes in their many forms, and poetry the poetry of Hafiz, Rumi, and countless others.

Porto Romano, Albania

Bevis Fusha was born in 1976 in a family of photographers. He has a degree in Philosophy and Sociology from the University of Tirana, Albania. He is currently freelancing and is based in Tirana, Albania. He is a member of the Anzenberger photographic agency in Vienna and also affiliated with Metro Collective in Washington DC. His photographs have been published and exhibited in Europe.

About the Photograph:

From the project titled Slow and Motionless Death. The 15,000 residents of Porto Romano, located near the Albanian harbor city of Durres, live with an ongoing environmental catastrophe. The United Nations Environmental Program has declared Porto Romano the most toxic “red zone” in the Balkans due to pervasive contamination by industrial chemicals such as lindane and benzene chloride. The majority of the residents moved to the area from poor regions in the north of the country after the fall of communism in 1992.

Veils, Sweden 2006

I thought this would make an interesting post following the one from yesterday.

Elin Berge was born in Stockholm, Sweden, She began her career in 1999 as a photographer for a local newspaper. Elin continued working as a feature photographer at the Swedish Daily News and in 2006 joined Moment. As a freelancer she has been published in most of Sweden’s major newspapers and magazines. Elin is also working on long-term book projects and exhibitions.

About the Photograph:

“The question if the Muslim veil was going to be allowed in public schools caused a huge debate in Sweden in 2003, when two young girls in Gothenburg came to school dressed in their black niqab. Is the veil a symbol of female oppression? Everyone seemed to have an opinion. This is a story about the girls everyone was talking about. I took the photos between 2003-2005. It became my first photo book and a touring exhibition that has been shown in seven cities in Sweden so far. “

”When I was fourteen I took the veil off for eight months. I wanted to try something new, change myself a bit. It was after I’d been to Lebanon; I was so affected by the girls there. Most of them didn’t wear the veil and they were even more into fashion than the girls in Sweden. I wanted to feel how it’s like to be all about the looks myself, like other young people. People said I became wilder without the veil, and I did stuff that’s not allowed within Islam. I knew it was wrong. Mom got sad, and dad too, but they couldn’t force me. When I took the veil off, it was like the protecting wall I had around myself just collapsed. I experienced things that I’d never experienced before. Things that other girls experience all the time. Once there was some guys that said: Look at the sex object! when I passed by. I felt nude, not free. But still, I wanted to be dressed like that because I thought it was sexy and cool. I wasn’t happy. Something were missing, I felt like there was a whole in my heart.” — Zena 15 years old