March is Women's History Month. During this time, it is important to reflect, investigate, and value the myriad of women that have made, currently make, and will make the world better. Women are incorrectly cast aside for a lot of history's narratives and deserve our gratitude for their roles in our history and in maintaining our history. This week we introduce you to 5 fantastic female photographers that are capturing stills in ways that will impact our views of history forever.
Annie Leibovitz - United States of America
"Annie Leibovitz was born on October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut. While studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, she took night classes in photography, and in 1970 she began doing work for Rolling Stone magazine. She became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer in 1973. By the time she left the magazine, 10 years later, she had shot 142 covers. In 1983, she joined the staff at Vanity Fair, and in 1998 she also began working regularly for Vogue. In addition to her magazine editorial work, Leibovitz has created several award-winning advertising campaigns. She has also collaborated with many arts organizations, including American Ballet Theatre, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Mark Morris Dance Group, and with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Her books include Annie Leibovitz: Photographs (1983), Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970–1990 (1991), Olympic Portraits (1996), Women (1999), American Music (2003), A Photographer’s Life: 1990–2005 (2006), Annie Leibovitz at Work (2008), Pilgrimage (2011), and Annie Leibovitz, a limited-edition, over-sized volume published by Taschen in 2014.
Exhibitions of her photographs have appeared at museums and galleries all over the world, including the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; the International Center of Photography in New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris; the National Portrait Gallery in London; and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Leibovitz has been designated a Living Legend by the Library of Congress and is the recipient of many other honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Center of Photography, the Centenary Medal of the Royal Photographic Society in London, and the Wexner Prize. She has been decorated a Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Leibovitz lives in New York with her three children, Sarah, Susan, and Samuelle."
Tshepiso Mazibuko - South Africa
"Tshepiso Mazibuko was born in Thokoza, South Africa in 1995. Mazibuko uses the medium of photography to add commentary about the political, society, landscape and history.
Mazibuko completed her studies in photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg in 2016. She has had shows at Ithuba Art Gallery in Johannesburg, The Ghent photo-festival in Belgium, The Turbine art fair, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Warren Editions in Cape Town, the Art Africa fair in Cape Town as well as the Addis Foto Fest in Ethiopia.
She is currently the reciepient of the Tierney fellowship 2017, and has been awarded the Prince Claus Fund Award for 2018.
She lives and works in Thokoza."
Ashima Narain - India
"Ashima is a photographer and filmmaker, represented by National Geographic Creative, and the former photo editor for National Geographic Traveller India and Time Out, India. In March 2017, time.com listed her as one of 34 women photographers from around the world to follow. In August 2017, she was part of 19 photographers from 15 countries chosen to create imagery for Disney Worldwide Service’s Dream Big Princess campaign, to raise $1 million for the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up leadership programme.
She has worked on a diverse range of subjects that have sent her on an anti-poaching operation to rescue bear cubs for Discovery Channel, climbing sail masts mid-sea for National Geographic Traveller and driving vintage cars across India for Cartier.
She has twice been nominated for a Green Oscar and been the recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Nature & Environment Photographer in 2006 and the Commonwealth Photographer for South Asia in 2004. In 2017, she was part of the jury (for 2 categories) for the Indian Documentary Producers Association Awards.
Her work has been published in Vanity Fair, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Vogue, GEO, Frontline, BBC.co.uk, Foreign Policy, Die Ziet and The Hindu.
In 2013, she was a judge on National Geographic Channel’s reality show on photography, called Mission Covershot, and continues to mentor young photographers as a National Geographic Expert for Student Expeditions, and through her workshops.
Currently she work as a freelance photographer, filmmaker and consultant to SIRITI, a digital advertising agency that specializes in communication for NGOs and social enterprises."
Nadia Bseiso - Jordan
"Nadia Bseiso is a Jordanian documentary photographer based in Amman. She completed a degree in photography from Florence, Italy in 2011, returning for a residency in Fondazione Fotografia in Modena, in 2015. She concentrates on long term projects, based on personal research in geopolitics, history, anthropology and environmental degradation. In 2016, she was selected for the Arab Documentary Photography Program, funded by The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Magnum Foundation and the Prince Claus Fund, for her project “Infertile Crescent”. Selected as Time – Light Box female photographers to follow from around the world, March 2017. She is working with several local and international NGO’s since 2011. Clients include: The New York Times, The Telegraph, Reuters, Zeit magazine."
Source: https://nadiabseiso.net/bio/
Jean Chung - South Korea
"Jean Chung is an award-winning photojournalist from South Korea who believes in surviving power of women in dire situations like war. After living in Afghanistan in 2006 and travelling to Africa from 2008 until now, she has been documenting the lives of women who were affected by war such as pregnant mothers and survivors of sexual violence. Her work gained international recognition such as the Grand Prix of CARE Humanitaire Reportage (2007), the Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Award (2008) at Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan; first place of 4th Days Japan Photojournalism Awards and WHO’s Stop Tuberculosis Partnership Award (2008), and 6th and 7th Days Japan Photojournalism Awards (2010 and 2011). She is also in an Ambassador Program for Canon U.K. (2017)
She is currently a contract photographer for Getty Images based in Seoul, South Korea, and is working for international media notably The New York Times, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Getty Images, Stern, Der Spiegel, M -Le magazine du Monde, Time.com, among others. She hopes to tell her visual story and deliver the voices to the world about the women's side of the history of armed conflict."
Source: https://www.jeanchung.net/about