Juli 2015 – ASIA JOURNALIST

Photography Friday: Lu Nan

Juli 31, 2015 von DirkClaus

The pictures below offer a journey towards humanistic ideals and the refinement of documentary photography. Member of the prestigious international cooperative Magum Photos, Lu Nan 呂楠 (born in 1962 in Beijing) is one the many independent documentary photographers in China who turned their cameras onto marginalized people from the late 1980s onwards.

His pivotal series started in 1989 with “The Forgotten People: The Condition of China’s Psychiatric Patients.” Pursing his intentions to document Chinese people from the margins of society, his subsequent series captured members of the Catholic Faith (“On The Road: The Catholic Faith in China”, 1992-1996), peasants’ life in Tibet (“Four Seasons: Everyday Life of Tibetan Peasants”, 1996-2004), and prisoner’s conditions (“Prisons of North Burma”, 2006).

See more on:

http://shanghaiist.com/2015/07/31/photography_friday_lu_nan.php

View more of Lu Nan’s work at Photography of China and visit Lu’s profile on Magnum Photos here.

Photography Friday is a regular feature from Shanghaiist in association with Photography of China, Marine Cabos’s fantastic trilingual blog about photography and photographers in China.

Stateless women

Juli 28, 2015 von DirkClaus

AK, a Rohingya refugee cries as she is waiting to be transported to a temporary shelter, East Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia

In May 2015, hundreds of refugees from Myanmar arrived in Aceh Province, Indonesia. Some of them found their own way ashore while most were rescued at sea by Acehnese fishermen. They have been given urgent humanitarian assistance by the Indonesian Government and local communities in different parts of Aceh, including Lhoksukon, Kuala Cangkoi, Kuala Langsa, Bayeun, and Kuala Simpang.

SB (16) and AK (18), Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, at a temporary shelter in Bayeun, East Aceh, Indonesia.

Photographed on assignment for UNHCR.

http://www.fauzanimages.com/stateless-women

Fauzan Ijazah, also known as Yo Fauzan to his friends, is a photographer/ photojournalist currently based in Indonesia. His work appeared in many publications, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Global Post, BBC, National Geographic Documentary, Associated Press (AP), NPR, The Guardian, Politiken, PDN, New Internationalist, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Devex, L’Express, STERN, among others.

He also has been working on photo assignments for organizations like Save The Children, International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), Norwegian Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, USAID, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Terre de Homes, Panos, Islamic Relief, HIVOS, World Bank, Plan International, Save The Children New Zealand, United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

‘SEA SLAVES’: FORCED LABOR FOR CHEAP FISH

Juli 27, 2015 von DirkClaus

SONGKHLA, Thailand — Lang Long’s ordeal began in the back of a truck. After watching his younger siblings go hungry because their family’s rice patch in Cambodia could not provide for everyone, he accepted a trafficker’s offer to travel across the Thai border for a construction job.

It was his chance to start over. But when he arrived, Mr. Long was kept for days by armed men in a room near the port at Samut Prakan, more than a dozen miles southeast of Bangkok. He was then herded with six other migrants up a gangway onto a shoddy wooden ship. It was the start of three brutal years in captivity at sea.

“I cried,” said Mr. Long, 30, recounting how he was resold twice between fishing boats. After repeated escape attempts, one captain shackled him by the neck whenever other boats neared.

Mr. Long’s crews trawled primarily for forage fish, which are small and cheaply priced. Much of this catch comes from the waters off Thailand, where Mr. Long was held, and is sold to the United States, typically for canned cat and dog food or feed for poultry, pigs and farm-raised fish that Americans consume. (By IAN URBINA)

Read the whole article on The New York Times.com:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/world/outlaw-ocean-thailand-fishing-sea-slaves-pets.html

Although Adam Dean had photographed for The New York Times in Southeast Asia before, he was excited to work with Ian Urbina on part of his investigative series, “The Outlaw Ocean.” He saw it as an opportunity to dig into a story and spend some time trying to find out what was really going in the violent, unregulated world of fishing boats in international waters.

The resulting article, “ ‘Sea Slaves’ Catch Dinner for America’s Pets,” details the stories of fishermen who have fled forced labor. He spoke recently with the deputy picture editor Beth Flynn about his experiences on the project. Their conversation has been edited and condensed.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/life-among-the-sea-slaves/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=linkedin&_r=0#

Pakistan: Moonie’s daugther

Juli 21, 2015 von DirkClaus

The sad fact is that a huge number of women and babies are still dying unneccesarily in Pakistan due to lack of proper healthcare infrastructure, lack of skilled staff, use of traditional customs by dai, remoteness of their village, etc. During this trip, I’m staying with my host family, who all are doctors, mostly gynecologists, and who have been my guide and support in the past years. The experience is and has been heartwarming so far and gave me a totally different view on life here. You become a part of the household and slowly start to get to know the whole family and the staff working here. And the fun thing is that everyone starts to get to know me too. Moonie, our cook, for instance knows of my addiction to the incredibly tasty Pakistani mango by now and with love sets the table and cuts a piece of this delicious fruit for me.

8 days ago though, after breakfast when we were trying to communicate in our simple way, as we both don’t speak each others languages, she was called outside. A family member had come bearing bad news that something happened to her daughter in Hyderabad and that she had to come immediately. Returning in the house, I saw the shock and fear in her eyes as she scrambled to get her things together.

Later that day I heard the awful news that her daughter, who was 7 months pregnant from her 3rd baby, suffered complications during her pregnancy and both mother and baby died… Last week, while I was sitting on the terrace reading the newspaper, I saw Moonie returning to the house. I followed her in, where we hugged each other. It was an intense and devastating hug, Moonie crying from the depth of her soul… Feeling her pain, I couldn’t stop my tears either… For the first time in all these years, with seeing and experiencing many upsetting moments, this time it really hit home and became real and very personal.

The numbers of maternal deaths that pop up in various rapports by ngo’s all of a sudden got new meaning, as one of these numbers now is Moonie’s daughter. In this moment I feel utterly helpless… I’m not able to do anything for Moonie, I’m not even able to communicate and tell her how sorry I am. Yet I hope that all the work I’ve been doing here, will make a difference in the coming years, will educate people about the situation here and will slowly improve the conditions in which women give birth here.

Wendy Marijnissen is a freelance documentary photographer from Belgium, based in Karachi, Pakistan. For the last 7 years she has been working on photographing maternal health stories in Pakistan. She was also a finalist for the Fotovisura Grant for Outstanding Personal photography project 2010 and received a honourable mention at the Photocrati Fund 2011 grant with her work ‘Every woman counts’. Her work has appeared in media like Le Monde, Arte, De Standaard, and L’Express. Follow her work on http://www.wendymarijnissen.com.