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| November 23, 2004 SAN FRANCISCO — FiftyCrows International Fund for Documentary Photography is proud to announce the winners of the 2004 Central Asia and Caucasus Grant. The four grant recipients were selected by a panel of three distinguished judges: Alison D. Nordström, Curator of Photographs at George Eastman House; Ed Kashi, Photographer / Educator; and Anthony Richter, Director of the Central Eurasia Project & Associate Director of Open Society Institute. Two winners were chosen from within the region, and two photographers from outside the region. The judges reviewed 93 documentary essays on the Central Asia & the Caucasus region from photographers representing 29 different countries.
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| When is the Next Photo Fund Call-for-Entries? |
| As of October 2005, FiftyCrows is in the planning stages for the next competition. The dates and specifics of the competition will be posted in the coming months. Photographers can SIGN UP for the mailing list to receive timely updates and announcements about Photo Fund Call-for-Entries. This is the best way to stay informed. Thanks for your interest and keep up the good work! |
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Repairmen with Stalin. Mahalla, Baku. December 2002. While dollars are now accepted as a form of payment in Mahalla, little has changed for these samovar repairmen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. |
Mahalla: Faces of Change
Fueled by demand for centrally located real estate in the capital city of Baku, Mahalla residents are being forced out of their life-long homes in order to make way for new high rise apartment buildings. Two years ago, spurred by the neglect of the media and the government for this indigenous community, Effendi began focusing on environmental portraits of the residents as a tool to bring attention to unregulated changes taking place in Mahalla, by engaging media, the government, and Azeri citizens in a dialogue about urbanization, government responsibility and urban planning. |
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Ushguli: Village at a Crossroad
Isolated high in the Caucasus mountains of Georgia, the close-knit Svanetian tribe of Ushguli maintains unique community traditions dating back 2000 years. Chkhatarashvili’s essay chronicles the oldest tribe in Georgia through their cultural rituals and religious celebrations, surviving a harsh landscape, and the determination with which they maintain an ancient way of life as a modern world pulses around them. |
Sacrificed Goats, Ushguli, Georgia. September 2004 |
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Marzia Bazmohamed, 15, waits her turn to have her bandages removed and then her burns cleaned. In one week, the burn ward in Herat, Afghanistan saw two new patients enter the ward after self immolating and then die from their wounds. Marzia self immolated because she was afraid of her husband's reaction to her breaking the family's new television set. Sept. 1, 2003. |
Self-Immolation:
Afghan Women Cry Out for Help
Conditions for women in Afghanistan have improved somewhat since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Nonetheless, social changes have been slow to manifest — women’s voice often carry little weight, many are subjected to domestic abuse and inhumane treatment. As a response, these women have turned to self-immolation, setting themselves on fire in an effort to tell the world that their lives are unbearable. In 2003, Sinclair began to document this anguish first-hand, hoping to raise awareness that will lead to a change in these women's lives while alerting a larger audience to a societal instability that if left unattended, puts us all at risk |
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Banned-Afghanistan
This essay also looks at recent changes in Afghanistan, a country at a dynamic crossroad after two decades of brutal war. Focusing on some of the many activities that were previously banned by the Taliban regime, we see the re-emergence of weather forecasting, bird keeping, kite flying, sports, and women’s employment and education. By balancing the changes that have already taken place along with the huge steps that are still needed, Reeve’s project shows the beginning of Afghanistan's movement toward a more positive future. |
Afghanistan’s first major music event for over 15 years took place on May 13th 2004 in the Ghazi National Stadium in Kabul. An Afghan legend, Farhad Darya, returned to his homeland to perform in front of an audience of men, women and children. Under the Taliban, when playing music was forbidden, weekly executions and amputations were carried out in the stadium. |
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