International Women’s Day Centenary – Female Focus on Photography plus 20

It’s another day so here is my next list of 20 women photographers. It’s been so interesting looking these names up to see if they are still producing work. Most are, however, there are a couple of links that suggest a stepping away from photography, but that’s the minority.
It’s been wonderful to rediscover photographer’s work and stumble across new work. In constantly looking for the “next new thing and the rising bright star”, we (photo writers/editors/publishers/curators – everyone seems to be one nowadays) can be in danger of having a very narrow field of vision and overlooking the work of photographers and artists who keep producing work, quietly, with little fuss and little attention.
Looking back is not a nostalgia trip. But it is a reminder of how fickle the media can be when it comes to focusing on the latest, the brightest, the youngest. I can remember when you couldn’t pick up a photo mag without seeing one of Loretta Lux’s images staring out at you.
To all those who have commented and suggested some names, thank you. I can learn and find out out about work if you direct me to it, so please, point me in some different directions. Till the next 20 tomorrrow…

Hotshoe magazine 2005-6
Kristen Ashburn
Maxine Beuret
Emma Critchley
Desiree Dolron
Anita Khemka
Harriet Logan
Loretta Lux
Hellen van Meene
Jenny Matthews
Sue Meures
Susie Needham
Emer O’Brien
Sylvia Plachy
Riita Paivalainen
Cindy Sherman
Collier Schorr
Esther Teichmann
Ellen von Unwerth
Ami Vitale
Annet van der Voort

Photo events – Amnesty International and ArtInsight

PHOTO EVENT
Anyone interested in human rights, photojournalism and the media who is in London over the next two months should check out Amnesty International’s Media Awards 2009 – Human Rights in the Frame, a series of exhibitions and events exploring the contribution of photojournalists to our understanding of human rights and social justice, which runs from September to November.

High on the list of must-sees is a talk by Jenny Matthews, Collateral Damage – Women and War which takes place on 18 November at 19:00. Admission is free. No booking required.

Russian human rights activist murdered in Chechnya

This was sent through from Panos Pictures yesterday. “Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova was abducted as she left her home in Chechnya’s capital Grozny on Wednesday, 15 July. Her body was found in neighbouring Ingushetia with gunshot wounds. Ms Estemirova was gathering evidence for the Russian human rights organisation Memorial concerning serious human rights abuses by government-backed militiamen such as a campaign of house burning throughout the territory.”

Panos photographer Jenny Matthews met her in London in 2008 after she had been awarded the inaugural Anna Politkovskaya Prize for her work and took this photograph.

Natalya Estemirova, who was brutally murdered on 15/07/2009, stands in front of a photo of Anna Politskaya at the Frontline Club in London. Estemirova was the Chechnya-based head of Memorial, Russia's oldest human rights group. In 2007 she was awarded the inaugural Anna Politkovskaya Prize, in honour of the investigative journalist murdered in 2006. Photo © Jenny Matthews, 2008, courtesy of Panos Pictures.

The murder of Natalia Estemirova is a dire warning writes UK Director of Amnesty International, Kate Allen in the Daily Telegraph. “There used to be three key people when it came to uncovering human rights abuses in Chechnya – the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the lawyer Stanislav Markelov, and the human rights researcher Natalia Estemirova. In the space of less than three years, they’ve all now been murdered”.

See Amnesty report, 1 July, Russia: Ongoing abuses in North Caucasus lend lie to ‘Normalisation’ claim and Award-winning human rights campaigner murdered in Chechnya on The Guardian site which has a video where colleagues pay tribute to Estemirova.

I felt I needed to post the story as it resonates on a deep level. A very dear friend of mine Carlos Luis Caceres was brutally murdered in 2000 with two other UN colleagues. They worked for the UNHCR and were living in Atambua, West Timor providing humanitarian assistance to the 125,000 refugees who had remained in West Timor. It will be the ninth anniversary of his death on 6 September 2009. His father wrote an article Two of Three Killed in Timor were Hams. Carlos’s last email is heartbreaking to read.