6. The 2014 Visa pour l’Image International Festival of Photojournalism takes
place from August 30 through September 14 in Perpignan, France.
The images here are selections from each photographer being exhibited
during the festival- including Bruno Amsellem, Mary F. Calvert, Williams
Daniels, Guillaume Herbaut, Chris Hondros, Yunghi Kim, Olivier Laban-
Mattei, Sebastian Liste, Anja Niedringhaus, Klaus Nigge, Ian Parry, Anne
Raerick, Jorge Silva, Sean Sutton, Pierre Terdjman, Gaël Turine, Alvaro
Ybarra Zavala and Michael Zumstein.
Also being featured are a set of images from North Vietnamese
photographers, showing a view of the Vietnam war previously unseen in
the west.
9. Typhoon in the Philippines: AFP, leading in the wake of Haiyan
On November 8, 2013, eyes around the world were focused on the
Philippines after typhoon Haiyan struck. Within a few minutes, whole
districts had been flattened, demolished by the extraordinary force of the
typhoon with winds gusting over 315 km/h (c. 200 mph).
The toll was more than 8000 dead and missing.
The AFP reporters who reached the site the next day discovered an
apocalyptic landscape. Their photos vividly convey the extent of the
disaster and the distress of the survivors.
13. Bruno Amsellem / Signatures
Rohingyas, a Silenced Minority
Since June 2012, the Rohingya people of Burma have been victims of
violent and sometimes deadly attacks by local communities, as the
authorities stand by, virtually condoning the attacks. The Rohingya
Muslim minority were rendered stateless in Burma's 1982 citizenship act,
and according to the United Nations they are one of the most persecuted
minorities in the world. Over the past two years, prominent Buddhists
have been inciting the Burmese people to hate.
Entire villages have been burned and razed in Arakan (Rakhine) State in
north-west Burma. Hundreds have been left dead in the wake of the
violence which has spread to the center of the country. Camps for
displaced persons near the city of Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, now
house 140 000 Rohingyas who are denied freedom of movement and
healthcare. Bruno Amsellem visited the camps where westerners and
humanitarian workers are kept under strict surveillance by the authorities.
16. Mary F. Calvert / Zuma Press
Canon Female Photojournalist Award 2013 presented by the AFJ
The Battle Within: Sexual Assault in America’s Military
Women who join the US Armed Forces are being raped and sexually
assaulted by their colleagues in record numbers. An estimated 26,000
rapes and sexual assaults took place in the armed forces last year; only
one in seven victims reported their attacks, and just one in ten of those
cases went to trial.
Many victims fear retaliation, demotion or being kicked out of the military,
because they have seen it happen to others. The abuse is often
considered simply a breach of conduct and not a criminal offense.
The effects of Military Sexual Trauma, include depression, substance
abuse, paranoia and feelings of isolation. Victims spend years drowning in
shame and fear as the psychological damage silently eats away at their
lives: many frequently end up addicted to drugs and alcohol, homeless or
take their own lives.
19. The Photographers in the North
Forty years ago, the Vietnam War came to an end. It had been a war with
massive media coverage, with memorable photos by names such as Larry
Burrows, Don McCullin, Philip Jones Griffiths, Gilles Caron, Horst Faas and
Henri Huet, the photojournalists covering the war from the American side, the
"photographers in the South." Very little is known about the work of the men
covering the war on the other side where B52 bombers were flying overhead,
the Vietnamese soldiers who became photographers - the "photographers in
the North."
Patrick Chauvel suggested the idea, and with his assistance we were able to
meet Doan Công Tinh, Chu Chi Thành, Maï Nam and Hua Kiem who have
accepted our invitation to come to Perpignan.
It is with great pride and pleasure that we are bringing their story over here for
you to discover their Vietnam War.
The exhibition has been organized with the support of Marie-Christine Blandin,
President of the Culture Committee of the French Senate, and Patrick Bloche,
President of the Committee on Cultural Affairs of the French National
Assembly.
26. William Daniels / Panos Pictures / National Geographic Magazine
Train for the Forgotten
It was the most expensive infrastructure project of the Soviet era.
The BAM, the Baikal-Amur Mainline, is the railway crossing
Eastern Russia, running for more than 4000 kilometers, passing
through remote villages with no amenities, and certainly no
healthcare facilities, and where it can take a day or more to reach
the nearest hospital. So the authorities set up a medical train - the
Matvey Mudrov - stopping at almost every village along the line.
For the people, it is more than just a mobile hospital; it is their
sole point of contact with the rest of Russia, with Western Russia
which has surged ahead over the past decade, leaving the East
behind.
30. William Daniels / Panos Pictures
Winner of the Humanitarian Visa d’or award – International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) 2014
Humanitarian Crisis in the Central African Republic
The Central African Republic has been plunged into an unprecedented
humanitarian crisis. After a year of terror led by the mainly Muslim rebel
Seleka group, anti-Balaka militia wreaked revenge on the Muslims in the
west of the country who fled or were killed. Entire districts were targeted;
even women and children were victims of grenade attacks. There was
little response from the international community; soldiers with the
African-led International Support Mission in the CAR (MISCA) and
French troops struggled to stop the massacres and ethnic cleansing.
Nearly one million (one fourth of the population) fled, becoming displaced
persons, needing food and medical care in conditions with no proper
security.
35. Maxim Dondyuk
Winner of the Ville de Perpignan Rémi Ochlik Award 2014 Euromaidan: a
Culture of Confrontation
November 21, 2013. The announcement by the President of Ukraine that
the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union
would not be signed was the starting point of Euromaidan, a completely
peaceful protest by pro-EU Ukrainians. But a violent crackdown on
protesters, plus provocation, brought massive crowds out, assembling on
the main square of the capital, demanding respect for human rights, and
calling for an end to the regime and the country's political elite.
Euromaidan became a dramatic spectacle, with battle scenes reminiscent
of the worst days of war, with frost and flames turning Maidan
Nezalezhnosti - Independence Square - into a phantasmagoria, destroying
the familiar features of the once carefree and bold city of Kiev.
38. Guillaume Herbaut / Institute
Ukraine, from Independence Square to the Donbas
It all started with a few tweets calling protestors to demonstrate on
Independence Square. Students were angry that President Yanukovych
had refused to sign an EU association agreement, opting instead for
the Eurasian union proposed by Vladimir Putin. Then the corrupt
president fled the country and it turned into revolution. Next Russia
annexed Crimea, and since then Ukraine has been falling apart. So
what is happening? Is this the emergence of a new nation? Is this a
latter day manifestation of the Soviet era, or is it a revival of Russian
imperialism on the global stage? The crisis in Ukraine may very well be
the beginning of an international crisis.
41. Chris Hondros / Getty Images
Testament
On April 20, 2011, Chris Hondros was killed in Libya, at the same time as Tim
Hetherington. Chris was one of the photographers whose work was regularly
shown in Perpignan, but he had never had an exhibition; we were always so
sure that he would produce something even better the next year. Now, three
years after his death, his friends and colleagues have published a collection of
his best shots: Testament.
Chris worked as a photographer in the most challenging and dangerous parts
of the world, presenting the plight of individuals and communities caught in the
turmoil of conflict, often in remote areas and sometimes for obscure causes,
showing the rest of the world how they lived, endeavoring to raise awareness,
to make people think and seek to understand.
45. Yunghi Kim / Contact Press Images
The Long Road Home in Africa: Famine to Reconciliation 1992-1996
Working up close and finding intimate and emotional glimmers of
humanity in the darkest and bleakest of moments are hallmarks of
Yunghi Kim's work. These four years of intense work in Africa were
seminal chapters in Yunghi's life. As Boston Globe staff
photographer, she was taken hostage in Somalia and, only days
after being released, found the courage to return there to complete
her assignment. She was exposed to the worst and best of mankind,
and was always able to see the beauty of Africa and the people of
Africa. Revisiting the work twenty years later has proven to be a
humbling experience.
48. Olivier Laban-Mattei / The Mongolian Project / MYOP
Mongolia - there is no El Dorado
It is time to put an end to the latter-day myth that Mongolia is the new El
Dorado.
It certainly is not. Mongolia is not a land blessed by the gods, a rich land
offering wealth to any and every fortune hunter as the international
media would have us believe. Quite the opposite. Social inequality has
been made dramatically worse by intensive mining, with serious effects
on human health and the environment. The first victims are, of course,
the people of Mongolia. With polluted air, water and land, the prevalence
of pollution-related disease and appalling hygiene and health has
soared, but the authorities persistently deny this, preferring to promote
an idyllic image of their country in a bid to attract ever more foreign
investors.
52. Sebastián Liste / NOOR for Time Magazine and Fotopres "La
Caixa" Grant
On the Inside: Venezuelan Prisons Under Inmate Control
Vista Hermosa is a notorious prison in Venezuela. With violence
plaguing the country, there are more and more prisoners, and
more clashes between prisoners and guards. The authorities
have made no attempt to improve conditions, and have let the
situation degenerate into near chaos. National Guards patrol
outside the walls, while the inmates live and die in a world of their
own making on the inside.
59. Anja Niedringhaus / Associated Press
Tribute
Anja Niedringhaus was one of the most talented, bravest and
accomplished photojournalists of her generation. Her senseless death at
the hands of Afghan police officer on April 4, 2014 deprived the world of an
extraordinary person.
Her storytelling skill with a camera was extraordinarily effective, a reflection
of her own open gaze and genuine compassion for her subjects.
Her enthusiasm and good cheer were infectious, even in the darkest of
circumstances. She consistently volunteered for the hardest assignments
and was remarkably resilient in carrying them out time after time.
She truly believed in the need to bear witness.
64. Klaus Nigge / National Geographic Creative for National Geographic
Magazine
The Bald Eagle in the Aleutian Islands
The Bald Eagle, as the national symbol of the United States of America, is
grand and majestic, but is also a bird living in a world of rain and dirt, of skies
bright and dark, hunting and fighting - a true eagle.
Klaus Nigge traveled to the Aleutian Islands where there is a large population
of bald eagles. There it is either raining, or just lousy weather. At Dutch Harbor
on Unalaska Island, the largest fishing port in the States, the eagles are not
shy, being used to human contact, offering original opportunities to the
photographer.
67. Ian Parry
Ian Parry was a photojournalist working for The Sunday Times and covering the
Romanian Revolution in 1989 when the aircraft he was traveling in to leave
Bucharest was hit by a missile, killing all on board. Ian was just 24 years old.
A scholarship was set up to support young photojournalists wanting to follow
Ian's dream. Many of the recipients have gone on to become some of the finest
news photographers today.
The exhibition presents work by the scholarship patron, Don McCullin CBE, and
the winners.
69. Anne Rearick / Agence VU'
South Africa – Chronicles of a Township
For the past decade Anne Rearick has photographed life in predominantly
black townships outside Cape Town. Her pictures display humanist
sensibility and convey the spirit of South Africans who face endemic
violence, extreme economic hardship, and unabated racism, yet still
maintain dignity, hope and courage.
Rearick's work has taken her into the classrooms of overcrowded schools
and the emergency room of an underfunded public hospital, into churches
and people's homes. With South Africa's current political climate,
economic instability and increasing social unrest, the images show what
is at stake in this fragile new democracy.
73. Jorge Silva / Reuters
The Skyscraper Slum
A 45-story skyscraper in the center of Caracas boasts glorious views of the
Avila mountains, plus large balconies for weekend barbecues. Yet it is no
five-star hotel or swanky apartment block: it is a slum, probably the tallest
in the world. Dubbed "The Tower of David," it was intended to be a shining
new financial center, but was abandoned - for financial reasons.
Squatters seized the huge concrete skeleton, and now some 3000 people
call the tower their home.
78. Sean Sutton / MAG / Panos Pictures
The Eye of the Storm
Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines on 8 November 2013 killing more than
6,000 people. Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, had sustained winds of
315kph, making it the strongest typhoon ever to reach landfall. Much of the
city of Tacloban on Leyte Island was directly in the path of the storm and
was completely devastated by the intense winds and a storm surge between
five and eight meters high.
Many thousands lost their homes and were displaced. What was left was an
apocalyptic landscape, testament to the awesome power of nature.
82. Pierre Terdjman
Central African Republic
The Seleka militia took over in March 2013, and perpetrated massive
violations of human rights - massacres, rape, torture and executions, and
burning villages to the ground. Nearly one fifth of the population has had to
flee and they are now living in appalling conditions in the bush and IDP
camps.
In September, the predominantly Christian anti-Balaka militia embarked on a
wave of reprisals against the Muslims with massacres, summary executions
and looting; the sides had changed, but the violence continued. Terrified
Muslims fled north-west, to towns such as Bossangoa and Bouca which are
traditionally Muslim.
Of the 100 000 Muslims that lived in Bangui, only one thousand are left; the
others have fled across the border. Today it seems unlikely that any change
will occur. The rift may very well be permanent.
87. Gaël Turine / Agence VU’
India and Bangladesh - The Wall and Fear
In 1993, India began building a dividing wall over a distance of
3 200 kilometers [approximately 2000 miles], separating it from neighboring
Bangladesh. Officially it was to protect the country from Islamist terrorists and
illegal migrants. Here people are arrested, tortured and killed, making this the
most dangerous border in the world.
Nearly all victims are Bangladeshi citizens trying to cross illegally to the other
side, and for any number of reasons - economic, family, health or
environmental - as their country suffers from every possible affliction.
90. Alvaro Ybarra Zavala / Reportage by Getty Images
Stories of a Wounded Land
"Stories of a Wounded Land" documents one of today's most complex
issues affecting the majority of people around the world and the planet
itself: agribusiness. Agribusiness is global in scale, extending, for
example, from a local producer in Latin America or an African tribe to
large corporations and consumers in the First World.
Is agribusiness the solution to world hunger, or is it poisoning both the
land and the people?
Over the past two years, Alvaro Ybarra Zavala has been documenting
agribusiness in practice in Latin America, in particular in Argentina and
Brazil, two of the world's major breadbaskets.
93. Michaël Zumstein / Agence VU' for Le Monde
Terror and Tears in the Central African Republic
In March 2013, the Muslim-dominated Seleka rebel movement seized
power in Bangui, bringing the corrupt regime of François Bozizé to an end.
But a reign of terror ensued, for weeks, as soldiers backing the new
president, Michel Djotodia, led a wave of violence and looting targeting
Christian communities.
Michaël Zumstein has made a number of trips to the Central African
Republic, the first in September 2013 when he saw violent attacks on
Christian civilians. And he was there when Christian self-defense anti-
Balaka militia gained control and Muslims were forced to flee. His
photographs stand as a record of the unprecedented violence that
continues unabated.
96. Favela Cidade de Deus, Brazil : AFP
Football as seen through the eyes of children in Cidade de Deus
favela
Christophe Simon, AFP chief photographer in Brazil, gathered
together a group of 18 teenagers in Cidade de Deus favela in Rio de
Janeiro, and, working together, they photographed their everyday life
featuring their love of football, and at a time before every camera in
the world was focused on Brazil and the 2014 Football World Cup.
While covering "pacification" in the favelas, Christophe Simon had
realized just how fascinated the teenagers in these neighborhoods
were by the job of photoreporter.
97. Picture taken by a child during a photographic project organized by AFP for children of Cidade de Deus shantytown. Children rest during a football tournament at
Cidade de Deus (City of God) favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 31, 2013
101. end
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