Donna DeCesare

1999 FiftyCrows PhotoFund Winner

About Donna

Donna De Cesare was born in New York City. After completing an M.Phil degree in English Literature at Essex University, England (1979), she began working as a photographer, writer and later as a videographer.

DeCesare is the recipient of fellowships and grants including the Dorothea Lange prize (1993), the Alicia Patterson fellowship (1997), the Mother Jones International Photo Fund grant (1999), the Soros Independent Project fellowship (2001). In 2003 she was named a fellow of the Dart Society for the Study of Journalism and Trauma.

Her photo reportage from Colombia won awards in several categories including a first place for an essay published on the web in the NPPA Best of Photojournalism (2002.) Her work on US and Latin American gang violence have won photojournalism awards including: an award of excellence from the National Center on Crime and Delinquency (2000), Special Recognition in the POY Canon Photo essay contest (2000), Judges Recognition for Journalistic Impact in the Alfred Eisenstaedt Magazine Photography contest (2000.)

DeCesare’s work has appeared in news and arts publications including: The New York Times magazine, Life, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Aperture, DoubleTake, Mother Jones and others. Since 1996 her work as a videographer/producer has been broadcast on PBS, Discovery and TLC (The Learning Channel).

Recognized as an expert on issues of youth identity and gang violence, DeCesare has worked as a consultant to The Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF, the National Association of Social Workers, and Save the Children.

DeCesare joined the journalism faculty at University of Texas in 2002. In 2003 she joined the Board of Directors of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. She teaches photography workshops for at risk youth, journalism students and professional photojournalists in the US and in Latin America.

Selected Publications :

DeCesare's forthcoming website Destiny's Children is a collection of photo novellas exploring how war, trauma and gangs impact the personal choices and social stigmas faced by young people across the Americas. This English/Spanish website will be a tool for educators, activists and youth working to address the challenges and legacy of youth violence.

For a preview see: http://www.pixelpress.org/contents/donna_edgar/

Books and Exhibition catalogs: Contributing Photographer

• Colombia: Images and Realities, Villegas Editores, Bogotá, Colombia 2004 (forthcoming)

• “The Story of Edgar Bolaños,” essay by Donna DeCesare in Gangs and Society, Columbia University Press, 2003.

• Points of Entry: A Nation of Strangers, The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA, 1995

• A Terrible Beauty, Artist's Space, New York, 1994

• Nicaragua: A Decade of Revolution, Norton Publishers, 1991

Donna DeCesare’s photographs have been shown in solo and collaborative exhibitions in the US and Latin America.

Selected Exhibitions:

• Colombia Images and Realities Opening National Museum, Bogotá, Colombia December 2003. Traveling in 2004-2005 in Colombia and Europe with collaboration of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights.

• The Human Condition: After Effects Opening The Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York 2003. Traveling in 2004-2005 to Lehigh University, the International Festival of Photography in Pinyao, China and other venues.

• Deportees: Fotofiesta 2003, Centro Colombo Americano and University of Medellín, Medellín Colombia 2003

• “Street Gang Exports: The Road from Los Angeles to Latin America,” Visa Pour L' image Photojournalism Festival; Perpignan, France. Sept. 2 - Sept. 11, 2000.