refugee

Can(‘t) You See? Or, The Ethics of Photographing Vulnerable People

My name is Simon Sharp, and I'm a documentary photographer. In this article, I will explore why I believe a photographer took pictures he should have refrained from taking and why the industry -- both print and NGO -- promoted them without apparently seeing what they were.

Photographer Revisits Refugee Crisis Scenes 18 Months Later

Back in December 2015, photographer Kevin McElvaney visited Turkey and Greece to document scenes of the ongoing refugee crisis. Wondering how things have changed over the past year and a half, McElvaney decided to revisit the exact same locations in June 2017 to rephotograph them.

How One Photographer is Shedding Light on the Refugee Crisis

There’s a staggering fact on photographer Malin Fezehai’s website: “The number of people forced to flee their homes across the world has exceeded 50 million for the first time since the second World War.”

Portraits of Refugees with Their Most Precious Possession

Commercial portrait photographer Gabriel Hill's typical day involves photographing big players in the pharmaceutical industry, some of the wealthiest people in the world. But his powerful personal project ImPORTRAITS is all about people who have almost nothing: refugees who escaped their countries carrying only the bare essentials... and sometimes not even that.

Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Recreates Photo of Drowned Syrian Refugee Toddler

In September 2015, Turkish photographer Nilüfer Demir came across the body of 3-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi on a beach. Her photo of Kurdi's body spread across the world, drawing the world's attention to the migrant crisis and becoming a symbol of the widespread suffering.

This month, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei decided to recreate that haunting photo by posing for a picture while lying face down on a pebbled beach in Lesbos, Greece. The resulting photo, captured by photographer Rohit Chawla for India Today, is now drawing both praise and criticism.

Youth in Exile

The children are always the most vulnerable but at the same time, the most resilient. Their young age makes them easy prey for sickness, abduction and trafficking and they often do not even understand why they have to leave their home. Nonetheless, these little human beings show impressive courage as they always are the first ones to regain their smiles.

Photojournalist Mugged by Refugees He Was Trying to Help

Dutch photojournalist Teun Voeten and videographer Maaike Engels were shooting a documentary at a migrant camp in Calais, France, earlier this month when the photographer was mugged by three refugees armed with pepper spray and a knife. The attack was stopped when other migrants in the camp came to the rescue.

The whole incident was captured by Engels in the 40-second video above.

Smiles in Exile

Tragedy and drama have so far been the images of the refugee crisis. When I went out there to document the situation I knew there would be more to it and I was not disappointed.

Syrian Refugee Children Capturing and Sharing Their Lives with Disposable Cameras

The Syrian civil war has been raging for over four years now, and millions of Syrians have fled their homes and into neighboring countries as refugees. As refugees struggle with basic necessities and figuring out their futures, a new project has popped up to give refugee children a creative outlet and a voice through photography. Hundreds of children have been documenting their tumultuous childhood experience using disposable cameras.

Portraits of Refugees Posing With Their Most Valued Possessions

If you had to quickly flee both your home and country, what one possession would you make sure you take with you? It's a question that reveals a lot about your life and values, and, unfortunately, is one that many people around the world actually have to answer.

NYC-based photographer Brian Sokol has been working on a project supported by the UN Refugee Agency titled "The Most Important Thing." It consists of portraits of refugees in which the subjects pose with the one thing they couldn't let go of when running away from home.