Stephanie Sinclair wins Unicef Photo of the Year

http://www.unicef.de/foto/2007/english/index.htm

UNICEF Photo of the Year 2007

Images of Extremes
Eva Luise Köhler honors Stephanie Sinclair for her picture taken in Afghanistan

The American photographer Stephanie Sinclair is the winner of the international photo competition “UNICEF Photo of the Year”. Her photo shows a wedding couple in Afghanistan who could not be more opposite. The groom, Mohammed, looks much older than his 40 years. The bride, Ghulam, is still a child; she just turned 11. “The UNICEF Photo of the Year 2007 raises awareness about a worldwide problem. Millions of girls are married while they are still under age. Most of theses child brides are forever denied a self-determined life”, says UNICEF Patroness Eva Luise Köhler at the award ceremony in Berlin. According to UNICEF, there are about 60 million young women worldwide who were married before they came of age, half of them in South Asia.

International experts nominated 142 photographers from 31 countries, who submitted a total of 1,230 pictures for the competition, which invited entries from throughout the world. This year, the jury, under the chairmanship of Klaus Honnef, Professor of Photography, chose the winners of the first, second and third prize and made eight other honorable mentions. Presenting this award for the eighth time, UNICEF Germany is honoring photographs of high artistic and photojournalistic quality that capture the living conditions of children. The competition is supported by the magazine GEO Germany and Citibank Germany.

The Winning Photograph
The UNICEF Photo of the Year 2007 is one of a series of photos about child marriages taken by Stephanie Sinclair between 2005 and 2007 in Afghanistan, Nepal and Ethiopia. During a stay in Afghanistan, it consistently struck the 34-year old freelance photographer, how many young girls are married to much older men. She decided to raise awareness about this topic with her pictures. According to UNICEF estimates, about 50% of Afghan women are married before they turn 18. In Afghanistan, in most parts of South Asia and in Southern Africa, marriage is often seen as a business transaction that has nothing to do with personal desires. In this process, the bride is the article of trade – the younger she is, the higher the bride price. “What are you feeling today?” Stephanie Sinclair asked Ghulam on her engagement. “Nothing,” the bewildered girl answered. “I do not know this man. What am I supposed to feel?”

by Malina W. at Mon Dec 17 17:57:33 UTC 2007 (ed. Mar 12 2008) Berlin, Germany | Bookmark this | Digg this |