Jürgen Escher
Honorable Mention Jürgen Escher, Germany | Laif Agency
North Korea: The dictatorship of scarcity
We see orphans huddled together to keep themselves warm in a cold room. We see Ri, a feeble old grandmother who refrains from eating so that her grandchildren can. We see feverish, malnourished Kim who might find solace in the hand laid on her, but who still lacks medicine to get healthy again. At the inpatient ward of the People’s Hospital in South Pyongan Province, mothers fear for the lives of their children since there’s no medicine whatsoever. Farmers laboriously plant corn by hand in barely fertile ground. In the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, old people desperately search fallow grounds for edible herbs. Emaciated people, empty warehouses, no energy supply: North Korea’s communist elite has mercilessly watched for decades as the people are stripped of their rights and their food.
The regime allows food aid only in the case of the most dramatic of emergencies, such as in May and August 2011, when the aid organization Cap Anamur was allowed to bring rice and beans into the country. Cap Anamur provided the food supplies under the following condition: to be able to determine the recipients themselves and to allow the German photographer Jürgen Escher to document his impressions. He was particularly shocked when he saw the stunted growth of children due to chronic malnutrition.
Food aid alone cannot solve the problem of malnutrition since the entire health system is incapable of providing help to the people. For many years now, UNICEF has been one of the few international organizations present in North Korea and is supporting rehabilitation centers for undernourished children as well as approx. 2,800 health stations. UNICEF also carries out information campaigns aimed at parents since they often don’t know how critical their children’s state of health really is. Which is not surprising – as the typical symptoms of malnutrition, such as stunted growth and underweight, are commonplace.
To the reportage by Jürgen Escher
Jürgen Escher
Jürgen Escher | © Sven Nieder
Curriculum Vitae
Jürgen Escher, born in Herford in 1953, father of two adult children, studied Photography at the University of Applied Science in Bielefeld between 1977 and 1983. He developed his diploma thesis in cooperation with Prof. Jörg Boström.
Jürgen Escher is working as a freelancer and designer for several organisations, publishing houses and editorial offices and is developing his own projects since 1983.
He was entrusted with a lectureship for photojournalism at the University of Applied Science in Bielefeld between 1987 and 1992 and was appointed to the German Academy for Photography (Deutsche Fotografische Akademie) in 1989.
Together with 125 Photographers he founded the professional association Freelens in 1995 and has become a member of the board in 2010.
His work was honored with scholarships by the Cultural Society (Kulturwerk der VG Bild-Kunst) in 2003, 2007 and 2010.
Jürgen Escher is the author of numerous book publications and his photographic work is on show in several single- and collective exhibitions in Europe.
book publications (extract):
- Ein Tag Deutschland. Freitag, 7.Mai 2010. FreeLens bei dpunkt.verlag 2010
- „Ich heiße ... und möchte ... werden.“ TPK- Verlag, Bielefeld 2010
- „Wir freuen uns und wir weinen...“ TPK-Verlag, Bielefeld 2010
- Begegnungen. Momente zwischen Fotografie und Wort. Bonifatius-Verlag, Paderborn 2008
- ...für mich Heimat bedeutet. Schaden-Verlag, Köln 2008
- Lebenhelfen, Komitee Cap Anamur/Deutsche Not-Ärzte e.V.,Köln, Lindemanns,Stuttgart 2005
- Hautnah.Berührungen mit Menschen im Herzen Afrikas. Lindemanns,Stuttgart 2004
- Schwarzweiss. Museum MARTa. Lindemanns Buchhandlung, Stuttgart 2001
- One World. Fotografische Wirklichkeiten. Essen, Lindemanns, Stuttgart 2000
- Humanitäre Radikalität. Komitee Cap Anamur / Deutsche Not-Ärzte e.V., Troisdorf 1988
- Wir.Fotografen sehen die Bundesrepublik. Beltz-Verlag, Frankfurt 1984
- Das Buch der Sinti. Bielefeld. Elefantenpress-Verlag, Berlin 1981
single exhibitions (extract):
- Der Blick des Freundes. Centre Cultural de Rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster, Luxembourg 2010
- Lebenhelfen. Visualgallery at Photokina, Köln 2006
- Hautnah. Weltjugendtag, Stadtsparkasse Köln 2005
- Bilderreise. Grauwert Galerie, Hamburg 1993
- Augenblicke. Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych W Gorzowie, Polen 1990
- Abgeschoben. Galerie Brennpunkt, Berlin 1983
collective exhibitions (extract):
- „abgeschlossen“ Kunst im Zellentrakt, Gedenkstätte Zellentrakt, Herford 2011
- Schwarz auf Weiss. La Folie, Ostbevern 2010
- „die nacht“-1.photograhy exhibition, galerie f:7.2, Mönchengladbach 2008
- Erinnerungsräume. Fachhochschule Trier 2007
- Sammlung MARTa Herford- Eine Auswahl, Museum MARTa, Herford 2005
- Nähe/Fremde. Deutsche Fotografische Akademie, Stuttgart 2004
- Spurensuche. Landtag Nordrhein-Westfalen , Düsseldorf 2002
- SchwarzWeiß. Mücsarnok, Budapest, Ungarn 2002
- SchwarzWeiß. MARTa, Herford 2001
- Noorderlicht. Fotomanifestie Sense of Space, Groningen, Niederlande 2001
- Erzählungen.Foto-Essays. 2. Internationale Fototage Herten 1993
- Wir.Fotografen sehen die Bundesrepublik. Kunsthalle Bielefeld 1985
- Wir.Fotografen sehen die Bundesrepublik. Frankfurter Kunstverein 1984
- Stilleben.Museo de Arte Moderno de Tarragona, Spanien 1980
Jan Grarup
Honorable Mention Jan Grarup, Denmark | Noor Agency
Somalia: The situation seems hopeless
Climate change combined with lack of rain, longer droughts occurring in ever shorter intervals, war and destroyed infrastructure as well as severe poverty and a steep increase in food prices have led to a hunger crisis that has already claimed thousands of lives and left 320,000 children fighting for survival.
Somalia is at the epicenter of the crisis: 25 percent of the population are acutely threatened and have fled their homes, in particular in the southern parts of the country. That’s where the civil war between the Islamist militia group Al Shabaab on one side and the interim government in Mogadishu and allied African peacekeepers on the other side coincided with a severe drought in early 2011. Many international aid organizations had already left Somalia due to the precarious safety situation. Others were violently forced to leave the areas controlled by the Islamist militia.
Our shared humanity dictates that we must support the helpers who care for those who are starving and the refugees who have lost everything they had.
The Danish photographer Jan Grarup is a very experienced photographer who has seen an almost endless amount of suffering in his 18 years as a reporter. In his usual, cautious manner he tries to document the situation in the camps near the Ethiopian border town of Dollo Ado. In an interview, he states: “I could take pictures of the situation on site showing horrors that would make the viewer turn away. But that wouldn’t help the refugees.”
Despite the difficult security situation in southern Somalia, UNICEF, together with its partner organizations and local staff, uses every opportunity to get access to and help those in need.
To the reportage by Jan Grarup
Jan Grarup
Jan Grarup | © Peter Hove
Curriculum Vitae
Jan Grarup (Danish, b.1968) has over the course of his eighteen-year career photographed many of recent history’s defining human rights and conflict issues. Grarup’s work reflects his belief in photojournalism’s role as an instrument of witness and memory to incite change, and the necessity of telling the stories of people who are rendered powerless to tell their own.
His images of the Rwandan and Darfur genocides provide incontrovertible evidence of unthinkable human brutality, in the hope that such events will never happen, or be allowed to happen again. His work, The Boys from Ramallah and The Boys from Hebron, covers both sides of the recent Intifada expressed through the lives of children coming of age amidst the violence. Grarup’s work takes the viewer to the limits of human despair, dignity, suffering and hope. His images are relevant to us all, because they form a chronicle of the time in which we live, but at times do not dare to recognize.
Grarup has been honored with some of the most prestigious awards from the photography industry and human rights organizations, including: World Press Photo, UNICEF, W. Eugene Smith Foundation for Humanistic Photography, POYi and NPPA. In 2005 he was awarded with a Visa d’Or at the Visa Pour l’Image photo festival in France, for his coverage of Darfur’s refugee crisis.
Jan Grarup is a co-founder and member of NOOR photo agency, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlan
Grants, Awards
- 2011: Leica Oskar Barnack Award
- 2011: POYi World Understanding Award, Finalist
- 2008: Picture of the year, Denmark. 1st. prize - Photographer of the year
- 2005: Visa d'Or, Festival Visa pour l'Image, France
- 2004: Picture of the year, Denmark. 1st. prize - Photographer of the year
- 2003: Feature Story of the Year, Denmark.
- 2002: UNICEF Photo of the Year Award. 1st. Prize
- 2002: POYi World Understanding Award
- 2002: World Press Photo - 1st. prize People in the news - stories
- 2001: Visa d'Or, Festival Visa pour l'Image, France
- 2001: UNICEF Photo of the Year Award. Jury's Special Award.
- 2000: Picture of the year, Denmark. 1st. prize - Photographer of the year
- 1991: Picture of the year, Denmark. 1st. prize - Photographer of the year
Exhibitions
- 2010 World Tour Exhibition
Launched at the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 "Consequences by NOOR" - 2009 "War Photo Limited", Dubrovnik, Croatia
NOOR's 'conflicts of interests' group exhibition - 2008 La Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau, Gentilly, France
NOOR group exhibtion - 2008 Bayeux-Calvados Festival, Bayeux, France
"War-photojournalism" NOOR group exhibition - 2008 War Photo Limited, Dubrovnik, Croatia
"Child Soldier" collective exhibition
Selected Books
- 217A Universal Declaration of Himan Rights by NOOR, Fonart, 2008
- Shadow Land, Politikens Forlag 2007
Sergey Kozmin
Honorable Mention Sergey Kozmin, Russia | Focus Agency
Russia: Standing to attention in school
What a name: The Moscow Boarding School for National Pupils! It stands for an unusual type of school for girls in Russia’s capital. The cadet school is attended by girls who would otherwise be in grades 5 to 11. The school offers a very special variety of learning contents: in addition to regular classes, the girls learn the art of military drill, weapon expertise, military exercises and basic medical knowledge. Of no less importance are ballet and sports, handicraft lessons and singing in a choir. Discipline and patriotic attitude are also highly rated. The main event of the year for the cadets is the Winter Ball. It is one of the rare opportunities to meet members of the opposite sex from the Moscow Boarding School for Cossack Cadets, and to use grace and charm to ensnare them.
The fact that both female and male cadets today are praised by the official bodies as ‘little protectors of the Russian fatherland’ is one of the reasons why Russian photographer Sergey Kozmin, born in Moscow in 1979, has addressed this topic.
To the reportage by Sergey Kozmin
Sergey Kozmin
Sergey Kozmin
Curriculum Vitae
I was born in Moscow in 1979.
I studied cinematography in the Russian University of Cinema but then my interest changed to photojournalism. I started work in Epsilon magazine, weekly supplement of the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia. I made some reports in Russia and former republics of the Soviet Union, travelling to remote parts of Siberia Kalmykia and Uzbekistan.
In Moscow a large body of my work was about left and right youth movements, because it is the young people in Russia who are becoming more active politically and socially nowadays. In the Soviet Union there existed many children organizations, all the children members of the Pioneer Communist organization (similar to the scout movement but with more emphasis on communist ideology).
Today the authorities in Russia are concerned with the decline of patriotism and the Girl's military boarding school (which was the subject of my report) was created
during the Putin years to bring up patriotic youth.
Today I'm a freelance photographer and contributor with a German agency Focus Pictures, Hamburg.
Anastasia Taylor-Lind
Honorable Mention Anastasia Taylor-Lind, Great Britain | VII Agency
Russia: Young beauties for the world’s catwalks
They live in Siberia, they are still children and they dream of becoming top models in the world’s fashion capitals. They attend modeling schools – which is an expensive investment for their parents – and hope to get a shot at one of Russia’s ‘Top Model’ TV shows. They train for a career in front of the cameras of renowned photographers and picture themselves as long-legged beauties on the catwalks of famous fashion designers. But it’s the so-called ‘talent scouts’ of international model agencies who will make use of their hopes and dreams. These scouts know how extremely the lure of far away places, thirst for adventure, glamour and the promise of money dominate the dreams and actions of these girls. Although some of these delicate teenagers might even make it in the brutal world of mere appearance, they will pay a high price.
The English photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind was often struck by sadness when she visited modeling schools, night club fashion shows and bikini shoots in the company of the aforementioned ‘talent scouts’. She loathes the idea of using one’s own body as a profitable commodity. Nevertheless, she understands that a child will do everything to flee from melancholic Siberia.
To the reportage by Anastasia Taylor-Lind
Anastasia Taylor-Lind
Anastasia Taylor-Lind
Curriculum Vitae
Anastasia Taylor-Lind (b. 1981) is an English/Swedish documentary photographer who is a member of VII photo agency. She is based in London and works for clients such as GEO Germany, The Telegraph Magazine, The Observer Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Marie Claire, ELLE France, Newsweek, Time and The New York Times.
Anastasia’s work has been exhibited internationally, in spaces such as The Saatchi Gallery, The Frontline Club, and The National Portrait Gallery in London, Fovea Exhibitions in New York and at the Lodz photo festival in Poland.
She has received a number of photography awards, from a diverse range of organisations including a FNAC grant for photojournalism, which was presented at the Visa Pour L’Image photojournalism festival in 2011, a Canon Young Photographer award in 2010 and the Royal Photographic Society Joan Wakelin Bursary in 2009. This year Anastasia was selected to participate in the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass.
Anastasia has degrees from the University of Wales Newport and the London College of Communication.
Luca Tommasini
Honorable Mention Luca Tommasini, Italy | Freelance Photographer
Pakistan: Stranded after the flood
How should we label the mass of water that devastated about 20 percent of Pakistan in 2010 and robbed approx. 20 million people of their homes, their fields, their cattle, their entire infrastructure and many cases, their lives? Flood of the century? Flood of the millennium?
And how should we label the unstoppable force that flooded parts of the Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh provinces in 2011? A flood of biblical proportions?
The pictures by Italian photographer Luca Tommasini don’t show any images of raging rivers bursting their banks. They only show those left behind, the survivors of a never ending catastrophe in the Sindh region.
At first, we see only people struggling to get their feet on dry land again – in simple clay huts, during improvised school classes, at meetings in front of a TV set. But it is completely uncertain where they are supposed to get food, clean water, medical help and work in the near future. The government, the military and aid organizations face sheer insurmountable difficulties.
Among the flood victims in Pakistan were nine million children. UNICEF took charge in coordinating emergency aid such as water supply, food distribution and the protection of children. Furthermore, UNICEF built emergency schools and child care centers and vaccinated 1.2 million women and children in August 2010. The catastrophe is a recurring nightmare for many families. After the country was hit yet again by severe floods in 2011, due to heavy monsoon rains, about five million people have been affected by this natural disaster, among them more than two million children.
To the reportage by Luca Tommasini
Luca Tommasini
Luca Tommasini
Curriculum Vitae
Profile
I'm a Rome-based freelance photographer and beside my long term assignment as Head of Mission for an Italian NGO, I mostly worked with several NGOs and International Organizations on granting projects’ visibility through photographic and video reportages. I developed a significant experience in documenting both emergency and long term development projects, but I had the chance to work on my personal reportages too. During different field missions in Haiti, Pakistam Nigeria, WB&GS, Tanzania, Russia among others, I profusely covered a wide range of issues going from food and agriculture, fishing activities, health, education, critical impacts of energetic policies, always keeping a wide angle on the social and economic contexts.
Relevant Exhibitions
- 2011
Rome – Aquila Theatre: Oil for Nothing - 2010
Rome - Auditorium Parco della Musica: Food Sovereignty - 2009
Rome - Palazzo Valentini: A walk near the sea of Gaza Rome
Strasbourg - European Parliament: A walk near the sea of Gaza - 2008
Jerusalem - ECTAO Office (European Delegation): Disability in Palestine
Rome - International Festival of Photography: Dunum - Land of Palestine - 2007
Ramallah - Zyriab Gallery: Labours in Palestine - 2006
Rome - International Festival of Photography: Traces of Palestine
Relevant Awards
- 2011
Prix de la Photographie Paris 2011, Professional | Press-Political - Bittersweet Election - 2010
Black and White Spider Awards 2010, Photojournalism - A walk near the sea of Gaza - 2009
International Photography Awards 2009: Honourable Mention - A walk near the sea of Gaza
International Photography Awards 2009: Honourable Mention - Dunum - Land of Palestine
Work experiences | Assignments
- 2011
River State/Niger Delta, Nigeria - Campaign for the Reform of the World Bank
Pakistan - Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) - One Year On visibility campaign.
Fort Liberte', Haiti - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Acul du Nord, Haiti - Vento di Terra Onlus - 2010
Rome, Italy - International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (I.P.C)
Patagonia, Chlie - Patagonia without Dams Campaign
Rome, Italy - International Centre for Education on Development (C.I.E.S.) - 2009
Tanzania - Centro Internazionale Crocevia NGO - 2008
WB&GS - Italian Cooperation for Development
WB&GS - Terre des Hommes Italy
WB&GS - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - 2007
WB&GS - Movimondo Ngo
WB&GS - Centro Internazionale Crocevia NGO
Jerusalem - Al Quds University
Shu’fat Refugee Camp, Jerusalem - Vento di Terra Onlus
WB&GS - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - 2005
Palestinian Territories - Movimondo Ngo
Mugur Varzariu
Honorable Mention Mugur Varzariu, Romania | Freelance Photographer
Romania: Target Roma
In the opinion of Romanian photographer Mugur Vărzariu, the worst you can do to yourself and the world is to be ignorant in the face of obvious injustice. The photos he took of the appalling conditions in which the Roma in his country have to live, reflect the enormous amount of commitment and empathy of his work. They show Baia Mare, a town in the northwest of Romania, and they are representative for many regions in Romania.
In the difficult free market after the collapse of the communist system, the country is looking for a scapegoat for all its disappointment. The unconventional lifestyle of the Roma is a welcome target for hatred and exclusion. Serious attacks on people and property have become common practice. The huts of the Roma are demolished and they are often forced to relocate to settlements without water and electricity, located in the vicinity of landfills or sewage plants. Many Roma still live in constant fear and danger.
This social reality is in stark contrast to the legal security provided by the Romanian constitution in 1991, which states that all Romanian citizens have equal rights “without any discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, sex, personal opinion, political affiliation, property or social origin”.
To the reportage by Mugur Varzariu
Mugur Varzariu
Mugur Varzariu
Curriculum Vitae
Profile
With a very successful career in strategic marketing and brand management, working for some of the most important companies in Romania, in 2010 I decided it was time for a change in order to find more than just professional accomplishments.
I chose photography and due to my ambition and dedication in less than a year my work has been internationally recognized and I became a stringer for some of the most important press agencies (Associated Press, Mediafax and IntactImages).
Photography became a new means of expressing my social activism. Therefore in my projects I approached some of the intriguing aspects of living in today’s Romania, in an attempt to raise awareness and increase social responsibility among institutions and individuals.
Experience
- Abandon Valley – a project dedicated to the community set in place by Father Tanase in Valea Plopului to offer shelter to abandoned children and expecting mothers, single women who come in shame, fleeing!social ostracism and often violence because they are pregnant and unmarried.
- Legal Death – a project aiming to raise awareness on the extreme danger of the so-called legal drugs;
- Deadly Raid - I covered for Associated Press the Istanbul protests following the deadly raid which killed nine turkish citizens aboard the Gaza-bound aid flotilla;
- Faith – a visual project on religion in Romania, aiming to emphasize the beauty and diversity of beliefs;
- Roma Exodus – I was one of the few defending roma rights during the expulsions from France and I followed them with my camera. Some of my images opened a video interview with Mr. George Soros on the issue;
- Survivors (jewish survivors of the Romanian pogrom), Hindu-Muslim reconciliation
(Ahmedabad, India) - for Le Monde des Religions - Back to School (a project for UNICEF on the importance of school and preventing
abandonment); - Arab Revolution (Tunisia, Syria, Egypt) - uprising in the middle east (exhibition for UNHCR);
- Streets Shadows - prostitution in a country where prostitution is illegal...
- The Wall - the mayor of Baia Mare, following a segregation proposal made by the former mayor, built a wall to separate the romas from the rest of the community.
- We are no Angels - a story about a kid that ended up in youth reeducation center as a result of being left behind by his mother when she left the country in search of a better life;
- Shock Wave - Tokyo after the nuclear event at Fukushima;
- 50 Steps - my personal encounter with Dalai Lama
- My Home - a story on roma people living in informal settlements facing the danger of forced evictions (Amnesty International).
Achievements
- I received the CNN iReport Award - 2010
- I was selected by editor Daphne Angles (The New York Times) at the second edition of the Canon Editor’s Choice contest, Photojournalism section (2010) and by Alexia Singh (Solitude) in 2011
- Assignment for: Le Monde, Amnesty International.
- Stories published by Photo Magazine, Jurnalul National and CNN (receiving international
coverage).
Exhibitions
- June 20, 2011 - exhibition for UNHCR, marking the World Refugee Day and the 60th
Anniversary of UNHCR - September 2, 2011 - evening screening at Visa Pour l’Image (Perpignan, France) - my work on recent uprising events in Syria.
- upcoming - IMADR (International Movement against discrimination and Racism) - exhibition marking the Human Rights Day, Tokyo - december 2011.
Helfen Sie mit, dass Kinder gesund und sicher aufwachsen und zur Schule gehen können. Danke!
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