India cockfights

About

Nayan Sthankiya is an award winning East Indian visual journalist raised in Canada with over a decade of experience in photography, video and multimedia, based primarily in Asia and North America covering breaking news, politics, cultural and environmental stories on assignment as well as self generated editorials.

Born in Uganda, Africa to East Indian parents, forced to flee during a brutal military dictatorship learning first hand at a very young age the importance of media, the image and it’s role as a witness, its ability to foster dialogue and in that dialogue effect positive change.

He studied multi-media arts at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He slowly gravitated photography after spending a year lobbying the Chinese government for the release of a wrongly imprisoned South Korean photojournalist, Seok Jae-hyun, arrested while documenting North Korean refugee’s in China. He again saw first hand the power of the image to educate, inspire and motivate.

He was asked to undertake disaster missions with the Korean Medical Association to Aceh and Pakistan, receiving a commendation for his work. He has traveled through North Korea documenting the Korean Friendship Association. He was  Chief video editor producing, shooting and editing, with a team of 10 people, situational ESL videos, shot through-out Daegu, South Korea, again giving him first hand appreciation for the ability of images to educate and foster dialogue. He was invited to teach various aspects of photography, photojournalism and  multimedia in the hill station town of Ooty in the mountains of Tamil Nadu, India.
 
A multi-lingual speaker, he has traveled and reported from North Korea, Pakistan, China, India, Canada, South Korea and Indonesia. His work has been recognized in competitions such as the International Photography Awards and Asian Geographic Story of the Decade. He has covered major stories for the world’s leading magazines, newspapers and NGOs, including The New York Times, Report on Business Globe and Mail, National Geographic Korea, Financial Times, Canadian Geographic, The Guardian, B.B.C.,WSJ Asian Magazine, Village Voice, Korean Medical Association.

Nayan Sthankiya 's current location:
Saskatoon , Canada

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