Archive for May 2009
Photo Fund Winner Update: Rena Effendi
Rena Effendi began photographing eight years ago and has produced almost a dozen significant bodies of work that span from Turkey to India. A resident of Baku, Azerbaijan where she was born and raised, Effendi focuses many of her projects on pressing issues in the country, namely the high supply of oil and the effects that it is having on traditional lifestyle of the people. Her 2004 IFDP award winning photo-essay, Mahalla: Faces of Change examined the dispute between the poor but culturally rich neighborhoods of Baku and the destruction caused by the greed for oil. In 2008, the continuation of this project won her a grant with FiftyCrows partner, the National Geographic “All Roads” photography program.
A list of some of the projects that Effendi has worked on in the past five years include, the conflict in Georgia and South Ossetia, youth in Tehran, Cole mining in Siberia, drug use in Kyrgyzstan, neighborhoods in Cairo, a Xinaliq village in Azerbaijan, and post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Other awards and exhibitions of Rena Effendi include the Getty editorial grant, Giacomelli Memorial Fund, the 18th “Vias Pour l’Image,” France, the 52nd Venice Biennale, Italy, finalist for Magnum Photos Inge Morath award, and PDN’s 30 photographers to watch.
In 2009, Effendi’s first book will be published, called, “Pipedreams: A Chronicle of Lives along the Oil Pipeline”.
FIFTYCROWS: Social Change Photography BLOG
Welcome to FiftyCrows Blog! Over the next several weeks we will be posting updates on the photographers who won the International Fund for Documentary Photography from 1990 until 2004. The FiftyCrows blog will feature images and multimedia projects from other contemporary documentary photographers and photojournalist from around the world. Please stay tuned for posts about fundraising, business tips and distribution in the future.
FiftyCrows is proud to announce that we are now partners with liveBooks, the leading provider in professional photography websites. The newest project from liveBooks offers photojournalist high-quality, low-cost websites, which FiftyCrows believes is giving photographers the tools they need to have their vision connect with the world. Take a look as many of the FiftyCrows IFDP winners are featured on the website:
Photo Fund Winner Update: Masaru Goto –Part 2
“It is necessary to make deep stories.”
Via Bangkok, Masaru Goto informs FiftyCrows about his most current project in Japan, his country of origin. Seven year after he won the International Fund for Documentary Photography, he reflects on the impact of receiving the grant and offers his point of view on the essence of photographing important issues around the world.
FiftyCrows: What project are you currently working on?
Masaru Goto: I am currently working on human rights issue in Japan. “NIHON-JIN, BURAKU-MIN: Portraits of Japan’s outcast people” is the name of the latest project. The Buraku-Min (tribal people) compose one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaido and the Ryukyuans of Okinawa. Despite being thoroughly Japanese, racially and ethnically, the Buraku-Min still face discrimination and struggle under the weight of their shared history in Japan.
This is the link: http://archive.masarugoto.com/burakumin/folios_burakumin.htm
FC: How did you become involved/interested in your current work?
MG: There is only small number of people who know about the discrimination against the Burku-Min people in Japan. I left Japan about twenty years ago, and now when I visit I can see the problem, which I couldn’t see when I lived there. I want to publish these issues outside of Japan because I believe that will help to solve these problems.
FC: Can you talk about the project that you focused on for the IFDP grant?
MG: I was in Colombia in South America from 1990 to 1993. I worked with local human rights group at Barrancabermeja, a town located in south Colombia. At that time, Colombia was worst country violating human rights in the world. People were trapped in the town because three groups, paramilitary, guerrillas, and government force fought for a land. Even journalists and human rights workers were being killed at Barrancabermeja. I documented human rights workers in this town, especially one of my best friends, Julio who was eventually killed by paramilitary soldiers when I was there because of being out spoken.
FC: What was the significance of winning the IFDP in your career?
MG: When I received IFDP, I felt very encouraged by FiftyCrows because nobody else seemed interested in my story in Colombia. I think for many people, the story was too violent and personal. After I received the IFDP, I got more energy to continue the work.
FC: Can you give a piece of advice to others doing important work with social change photography?
MG: I am not sure what I can advise, but it is necessary to make deep stories. We are not press photographers, so spend time with people and stay with them, so that you can make deep stories.
FC: Can you talk about what it is like to work in violent situations and what it is like to witness pain and death?
MG: I still feel very much pain when I think about death, especially since one of my friends, Julio, was killed in Colombia. I am still working as photographer as a result of Julio’s death because I believe he wants me to continue working for human rights issue.
