a million shillings exhibit at musée d’art moderne de la ville de paris

Alixandra Fazzina’s project ‘A Million Shilling – Escape from Somalia’ is showing at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, as part of the Prix Pictet Finalists Exhibition, running until 13 December 2015.

Across the Horn of Africa, war, abuse and poverty make millions miserable and drive thousands to attempt to flee by sea. The cost is just $50, or one million Somali shillings. With a one in twenty chance of not making it to the other side alive, it is a price they must risk their lives for. 

Alixandra Fazzina worked over a period of two years to chronicle the exodus of migrants and refugees from Somalia to the Arabian Peninsula. For her work on “A Million Shillings – Escape From Somalia”, she was a finalist in the CARE Award for Humanitarian Reportage, the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography and the Prix Pictet. 

noor at fotografia europea 2015

NOOR Group Photo, May 2015. From left: Asim Rafiqui, Pep Bonet, Kadir van Lohuizen, Benedicte Kurzen, Sebastian Liste, Jon Lowenstein, Francesco Zizola, Andrea Bruce, Nina Berman, Stanley Greene, Alixandra Fazzina.

As HOST program guests of the Italian festival Fotografia Europea 2015, NOOR photographers visited the beautiful town of Reggio Emilia to lead workshops, present a screening and discussion evening, and open their group exhibition, "A NOOR journal on the changing planet, 2009-2015."

The exhibition, curated by Laura Serani, brings together years of work on climate change and environmental issues around the globe and is on view at the Chiostri di San Pietro until 26 July.

In the days leading up to the festival's official opening, NOOR photographers Stanley Greene, Jon Lowenstein, Sebastian Liste, Andrea Bruce, and Asim Rafiqui guided practical and theoretical workshops in documentary photography. To see a video of the work participants shot during the workshop see here.

Stanley, Jon, Sebastian and Andrea's workshop participants worked on a shooting assignment covering local food and wine production in the region. One group visited a Parmigiano-Reggiano maturation room in Reggio Emilia.

The festival HOST program (a project by aBcM) came to a close with NOOR Night, featuring an evening of screenings and discussions with NOOR photographers and moderated by Lars Boering, Director of the World Press Photo. The topic of the evening was "Change: How to Achieve It." 

Following the festival, NOOR members stayed in Reggio Emilia where they held their 8th Annual General Meeting. At the Annual General Meeting, NOOR photographers and staff evaluate agency and foundation activities, and plan how to continue NOOR’s mission in coming years.

All photos by Francesca Pradella 

noor lunch talks with nina berman, francesco zizola, pep bonet, alixandra fazzina & benedicte kurzen at fotografia europea, italy

© Francesco Zizola | NOOR

On Saturday 16 May 2015, as part of the Fotografia Europea festival, NOOR will host 'NOOR Lunch Talks.' Enjoy stimulating, intimate discussion and a delicious meal together. The following photographers will be the topics listed below:

Nina Berman on 'Photography and Social Media'

Francesco Zizola on 'Ethics and Photojournalism'

Pep Bonet on 'Moving into Moving Images', about the power of mixed media

Alixandra Fazzina and Benedicte Kurzen on 'Women; Two Sides of the Camera'. Alixandra and Benedicte will discuss the role of women both behind the camera and as subjects in conflict.

Each applicant will be able to choose the photographer they would like to have the lunch with, and all efforts will be made to accommodate their choice. The lunches will take place at Ristorante Enoteca Il Pozzo.

When: Saturday 16 May 2015

12:30 - 14:30 lunch + talk

14:30 - 15:30 possibility for a short portfolio review

Cost: €85 (including food & festival pass, exclusive of €15 administration costs).

The lunches with Nina Berman, Francesco Zizola and Pep Bonet will each admit 6 to 8 people.

The lunch with Alixandra Fazzina and Benedicte Kurzen will admit 12 to 14 people.

Deadline for registration: Tuesday 28 April 2015 EXTENDED! NEW DEADLINE: 5 May 2015 (before midnight C.E.T.)

HOW TO SIGN UP?

1. Please download, fill out, and sign the registration form.

This can be sent via email to: info@abcmprogetti.net

2. Please make an advance payment of 100 EUR via PayPal

or bank transfer to:

Bank Account holder Stichting Noor Foundation

IBAN code: NL37 INGB 0004288015

BIC/SWIFT: INGBNL2A

Please clearly indicate with the payment your name and what it concerns, so we can track the payment. Please send a receipt of the payment together with the registration form.

Deadline for registration: Tuesday 28 April 2015 EXTENDED! NEW DEADLINE: 5 May 2015 (before midnight C.E.T.)

Participants for the lunches will be provided with necessary information in the form of welcome packs prior to the event and with a free pass for the festival.

FEES AND POLICY

Tuition for the lunches does not include flights, accommodations or meals. All on-the-ground expenses are the responsibility of the student.

Once you submit your application, you will be notified within 2 business days after the submissions deadline.

All fees must be paid within three days from acceptance. Students will then be emailed a full welcome package with suggestions for accommodations as well as a guide to Reggio Emilia.

Please note

- NOOR reserves the right to change or alter the program advertised.

- If a participant decides to cancel for whatever reason, it must be confirmed in writing:

. NOOR will reimburse all the registration costs except for €15 administration fee, if the participant informs NOOR of cancellation the day they receive the notification of confirmation for the lunch. Beyond this time limit, NOOR will charge the following:

. 50% of the cost if cancelled between 6 and 12 days before the lunch commences.

. 100% of the cost if cancelled less than 5 days before the lunch commences.

. All lunches that are commenced but not completed through the fault of either the contractor/or participant need to be paid in full.

- NOOR is not responsible for reimbursement of travel expenses in case a lunch is cancelled. We recommend that you buy refundable air tickets and/or travel insurance.

- A €100 application fee is required for each application. If accepted, this balance will be applied to the final tuition. If the student is not accepted, a refund of the application fee will be granted (minus €15 administration costs).

For any questions, or for more information, please contact Valeria Ribaldi.

noor at fotografia europea 2015 - italy

Fotografia Europea 2015 hosts NOOR. The Municipality of Reggio Emilia, in collaboration with aBcM, presents the HOST project, inviting NOOR to bring its select group of highly accomplished photojournalists and documentary storytellers for a series of activities to the city, from 14-17 May 2015, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

HOST offers an exclusive opportunity to encounter and discover an internationally renowned agency through a calendar of activities and events in which participants can personally come into contact with some of the leading figures in contemporary photography.

NOOR WORKSHOP

From Thursday 14 May until Saturday 16 May 2015, as part of the Fotografia Europea festival, NOOR will host a three day practical workshop under the guidance of Stanley Greene, Jon Lowenstein, Sebastian Liste and Andrea Bruce.

 
 

The participants will work in four groups of maximum 6 participants per group. Each group will be guided by one of the photographers. There will be room for practical and theoretical discussions on how to develop stories and portfolio reviews. One day of the workshop will be dedicated for shooting and one day will be dedicated for editing the work done the previous day - so participants have to be in possession of a camera and computer. Due to the fast pace of the workshop, NOOR highly recommends that participants produce and edit their work digitally.

Each applicant will be able to choose the photographer they would like to work with, and all efforts will be made to accommodate their choice.

During the three days the four NOOR photographers will each give a presentation of their work, followed by a Q&A and discussion. These presentations can be attended by all participants.

The results of the workshop will be screened at the festival on Saturday night during the NOOR Night at Chiostri di San Pietro, the main venue of the Festival.

When: Thursday 14 until Saturday 16 May 2015 between 10:00 to 18:00 CET.

Cost: €300 (exclusive of €15 administration costs)

Admits: 20-24 people (5 to 6 per group)

RETHINKING THE PHOTO PROJECT

On Saturday 16 May 2015, as part of the Fotografia Europea festival, NOOR will host  a one day theoretical workshop under the guidance of Asim Rafiqui.

 

 © Asim Rafiqui | NOOR

The participants will explore how to discover story ideas in their own seemingly ordinary surroundings and how to produce photography projects and use digital media to create individual and unique works that go beyond the news cycle or the editorial publishing restrictions. The goal is to help participants rethink story ideas, understand the new possibilities of self-publishing, and begin to create multi-layered and complex projects that look towards audiences beyond the editorial and magazine markets. 

This is a project workshop, and not a photography aesthetics / camera use workshop.

We will focus on:

- discussing and developing participant story ideas

- project concept development

- project / story frameworks

- project research

- digital / online project layout and design

- digital tools and techniques for self-publishing works

When: Saturday 16 May between 10:00 to 18:00 CET.

Cost: €150 (exclusive of €15 administration costs)

Admits: 5-6 people

NOOR LUNCH

On Saturday 16 May 2015, as part of the Fotografia Europea festival NOOR will host 'NOOR Lunch Talks' with the following photographers on the following subjects:

 © Alixandra Fazzina | NOOR

Nina Berman  on 'Photography and Social Media'.

Francesco Zizola on 'Ethics and Photojournalism'.

Pep Bonet on 'Moving into Moving Images', about the power of  mixed medias.

Alixandra Fazzina and Benedicte Kurzen on 'Women; Two Sides of the Camera'. Alixandra and Benedicte will seek to discuss the role of women both behind the camera and as subjects in conflict.

Each applicant will be able to choose the photographer they would like to have the lunch with, and all efforts will be made to accommodate their choice.

The lunches will take place at Ristorante Enoteca Il Pozzo.

When: Saturday 16 May 2015

12:30 - 14:30 lunch + talk

14:30 - 15:30 possibility for a short portfolio review

Cost: €85 (including food, exclusive of €15 administration costs).

Admits:

The lunches with Nina Berman, Francesco Zizola and Pep Bonet will each admit 6 to 8 people.

The lunch with Alixandra Fazzina and Benedicte Kurzen will admit 12 to 14 people.

HOW TO SUBMIT?

1. Please download, fill out, and sign the registration form.

This can be sent via email to: info@abcmprogetti.net

2. Please make an advance payment of 100 EUR via PayPal

or bank transfer to:

Bank Account holder Stichting Noor Foundation

IBAN code: NL37 INGB 0004288015

BIC/SWIFT: INGBNL2A

Please clearly indicate with the payment your name and what it concerns, so we can track the payment. Please send a receipt of the payment together with the registration form.

3. For the 3 day workshop with Stanley Greene, Jon Lowenstein, Sebastian Liste and Andrea Bruce, as well as the one day workshop with Asim Rafiqui, you are required to have:

- Basic experience in documentary photography or photojournalism;

- A high level of motivation;

- English language skills (the workshop is in English);

- A good technical understanding of your camera equipment, a working knowledge of the media environment and basic image management skills.

To apply you need to send a PDF file not exceeding 6 MB including:

A CV including your contact information and a written text explaining your work and projects.

A portfolio of max. 30 images with text introductions and captions (please show your story telling skills by presenting at least one picture story of 8 images).

Please send your application with all the above requested documents (registration form, payment receipt, portfolio) to : info@abcmprogetti.net

Deadline: Tuesday 28 April 2015 EXTENDED! NEW DEADLINE: 5 May 2015 (before midnight C.E.T.)

If sending a PDF creates a problem, we accept links and word documents or alternative formats. For more information contact info@abcmprogetti.net.

Selected participants for the workshops and the lunches will be provided with necessary information in the form of welcome packs prior to the event and with a free pass for the festival.

FEES AND POLICY

Tuitions for the workshops and the lunches does not include flights, accommodations or meals. All on-the-ground expenses are the responsibility of the student.

Once you submit your application, you will be notified within 2 business days after the submissions deadline.

All fees must be paid within three days from acceptance. Students will then be emailed a full welcome package with suggestions for accommodations as well as a guide to Reggio Emilia.

Please note

- NOOR reserves the right to change or alter the program advertised.

- If a participant decides to cancel for whatever reason, it must be confirmed in writing:

. NOOR will reimburse all the registration costs except for €15 administration fee, if the participant informs NOOR of cancellation the day they receive the notification of acceptance to the workshop. Beyond this time limit, NOOR will charge the following:

. 50% of the cost if cancelled between 6 and 12 days before the workshop commences.

. 100% of the cost if cancelled less than 5 days before the workshop commences.

. All workshops that are commenced but not completed through the fault of either the contractor/or participant need to be paid in full.

- NOOR is not responsible for reimbursement of travel expenses in case a workshop is cancelled. We recommend that you buy refundable air tickets and/or travel insurance.

- A €100 application fee is required for each application. If accepted, this balance will be applied to the final tuition. If the student is not accepted, a refund of the application fee will be granted (minus €15 administration costs).

For any questions, or for more information, please contact Valeria Ribaldi.

alixandra fazzina | 'in the company of women' in the guardian

The Guardian recently published this article about Alixandra Fazzina's extraordinary five-year project documenting the intimate lives of women and children in Pakistan. To see the online article and multimedia piece see here.

NOOR at photoville 2014

NOOR's recent group project in Za'atari is now shown at PHOTOVILLE –  the largest annual photographic event of New York City; it is a modular venue built from re-purposed shipping containers. For Nina Berman this is an inspiring event ''it was here that I first started thinking about the possibilities for large-scale outdoor photographic displays''. NOOR is excited to bring the Za'atari project to this location, after it was initially installed on the walls of the refugee camp in Jordan. The installation features 4 meter wide images by photographers Alixandra Fazzina, Andrea Bruce, Stanley Greene and Nina Berman.

   
''Having covered stories of refugees around the world over nearly two decades, Zaatari Camp in Jordan puts a different face on what a crisis should look like. Far from languishing in the desert to wait out the ongoing conflict, the 120,000 Syrian refugees at Zaatari have mobilised themselves. Facing up to what is a protracted situation, they are getting by day to day in what has become a new temporary city across the frontier. These threads of new lives that are weaving together the community in Zaatari compelled me to look beyond the surface, to try and tell a more sensitive and positive narrative of the people I came to meet'' - says NOOR photographer Alixandra Fazzina, whose work is now available on the NOOR website - 'Za'atiri, New Lives' http://noorimages.com/feature/zaatari-new-lives/`

Also at Photoville, on Sunday September 28, there will be a Panel Discussion with Nina Berman on Photography in Public Space. This discussion will explore the politics, meanings, and impact of site-specific artwork, examining case studies from photographers who have mounted larger-than-life photographs everywhere.

More information on the installation:
http://www.photoville.com/2014-installations/zaatari/

More information on the panel discussion:
http://www.photoville.com/2014-programming/2014-talks-workshops/whose-space-our-space/

What to do at Photoville?
http://www.featureshoot.com/2014/09/10-workshops-panels-and-events-you-shouldnt-miss-at-photoville-2014/

alixandra fazzina featured among top female conflict photographers

NOOR's Alixandra Fazzina has been featured in an audio slideshow and article on the Guardian's website with fellow conflict photographers Lynsey Addario and Kitra Cahana.

"I've been shot at on numerous occasions and had more than a few kidnap attempts," Alix said. "I've had a few run-ins with the Taliban, who have specifically targeted me. There's a lot of times in my career I have been really, really scared."

"On the other hand I've had access to a lot of stories because I'm a woman," she continued. "Women can be more trusted, can make barriers fall down a bit more."

Hear her words and see her pictures in the audio slideshow here.

And read the full article here or see the tearsheet below.

 

world press photo pop-up group exhibition

All of NOOR's photographers have a strong connection to World Press Photo, as award winners, Joop Swart Masterclass participants and educators, jury members, or supervisory board members. To celebrate this fact, and with the World Press Photo Awards Days fast approaching, NOOR presents a small pop-up exhibition in an informal setting, featuring relevant work by all our photographers.

NOOR's pop-up exhibition is currently hanging at the Cafe de Engelbewaarder, which is situated just over the canal from Het Compagnie Theater, the location of this year's World Press Photo Awards Days. The exhibition runs until May 12th.

Address Engelbewaarder: Kloveniersburgwal 59, 1011 JZ Amsterdam.

This exhibition is supported by Nikon Europe.

All printing by FotolabKieKie.

Exhibition photos by Jen Tse.

outdoor installation in za'atari refugee camp

NOOR photographers Nina Berman, Alixandra Fazzina, Andrea Bruce, and Stanley Greene worked on a collaborative photography project at the Za'atari refugee camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan. The photographers documented life in the camp and set up a photo portrait booth. They made several thousand images, nearly 100 of which were turned into large scale prints, blown up to 3 meters wide, and pasted on the camp's concrete security walls.

“We tried to strike a balance with images showing daily life without sugar coating the reality and at the same time not make the experience of looking at the wall depressing,” wrote Nina Berman on her Instagram, adding that certain questions would never be concerns when photographing for publications, but presenting photographs in public where the subjects are also the audience becomes an entirely different conversation.

To learn more about the  NOOR Foundation/Za'atari project, contact the NOOR office.