Getty's inaugural $10k Women’s Photography Grant announced
Getty Images recently announced the winner of the inaugural Women’s Photography Grant. The grant, aimed at promoting gender diversity in photojournalism, was won by Nadia Shira Cohen. Cohen’s winning project, Yo No Di a Luz, sheds light on the criminalisation of abortion in El Salvador, and the many ways the ban affects the country's women. With the grant's $10,000 funding and mentorship, Cohen’s work will continue to shine a light on the “dramatic repression” of women’s reproductive rights in El Salvador.
Cohen says the grant really “spoke” to her because of its focus not only of elevating the voice of women photojournalists, but also that the recipient would be someone who has a personal connection with the community they are capturing. “El Salvador is known as being a volatile place, but I feel confident with my connection to the community there and the funding from the grant that I can continue to shine a light on the dramatic repression of reproductive rights of the women of El Salvador,” Cohen says.
Selected by an industry leading panel, Cohen’s work was chosen from more than 400 entries from female photographers in dozens of countries. The $10,000 grant aims to promote gender diversity within professional photojournalism and is awarded to a professional photojournalist who has demonstrated long-term commitment to their story.
Sandy Ciric, Director of Photography at Getty Images described Cohen’s work as “at once informative and impactful, and also beautifully rendered with a compassionate eye”. She went on to say that although the topic of reproductive rights is not a new one, Cohen shines a fresh light on the hardships facing El Salvador’s women.
The judges
- Mallory Benedict, Managing Director, Women Photograph and Photo Editor, National Geographic
- Sandy Ciric, Director of Photography, Getty Images
- Shaminder Dulai, Editor and Visual Journalist
- Sandra Stevenson, Picture Editor, The New York Times
- Ariel Zambelich, Senior Photo Editor, The Intercept
About Nadia Shira Cohen
Nadia Shira Cohen is a freelance photojournalist contributing to The New York Times, National Geographic, Harpers and many international publications. She works frequently in Latin America as well as countries such as Haiti, Kazakhstan, Congo, Rwanda, and Kosovo, focusing on human rights, reproductive rights, environmental issues, disaster, revolution, and migration.
Cohen was born in Boston in 1977. At 15, she received her first camera, in the same moment she was diagnosed with cancer. She began to make self-portraits to document the physical and emotional evolution of being sick as well as to photograph her fellow oncology patients at Mass General Hospital in Boston. A University of Vermont graduate, she began her career in New York City as a stringer for the Associated Press. She became proficient in the photography business, working as a photography agent at Sipa Press and later as the Director of North America for VII Photo Agency. She moved to Rome in 2007 where she has been based since, except for a brief period in Geneva while becoming a staff photographer at the ICRC.
Her work has been exhibited internationally and she is an IWMF Fellow and a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting grant recipient for her work on gold mining in Romania. Her work has been exhibited in Russia, Brussels, Mexico, Italy, and Peru.
www.nadiashiracohen.com
