Tickle Your Fancy – #31 – Dedicated To All Women

We posted news of this tragedy yesterday, Pulitzer prize-winning photographer Anja Niedringhaus has been shot dead in Afghanistan’s violent east while covering preparations for the presidential election. The Guardian have put together a retrospective of her work, from the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan to the London 2012 Olympics.

Take a look here

“The first time I visited Afghanistan in May 2000, I was 26 years old, and the country was under Taliban rule. I went there to document Afghan women and landline victims. At the time, the Taliban had banned photography of any living being, so I snuck around with my cameras in a bag, visited people in their homes in Kabul and the provinces, and claimed I was photographing destroyed buildings left by over two decades of war in the country. There were almost no foreigners in Afghanistan then; electricity was rare, television was banned, and my only contact with the outside world was through BBC dispatches on a short-wave radio and through UN officials based in Kabul”.

Absolutely stunning account with images by Lynsey Addario for TIME Lightbox – don’t miss this.

Natalie Naccache is a Lebanese- British photojournalist based in Beirut, Lebanon.  She is represented by Getty Global assignments and formerly Reportage by Getty Images Emerging Talent group.  Having grown up to Lebanese parents in London, her work challenges preconceived ideas of the Middle East in modern day society.

Incredible images from Natalie’s ‘Walking in Circles’ series – ‘With frequent car bombs taking place in Lebanon, an unstable government, and a dwindling economy many young people are desperate to leave Lebanon. The ones who remain adjust their daily routine and remain indoors during the day from fear of being at the wrong place at the wrong time when an explosion takes place. The following photographs are an attempt to explain how fragile Beirut feels’.

Take a look here

“Elusive yet captivating, the Brooklyn-born artist’s mixed-media work has put her in the running for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize”.

Stunning images and revealing article.

Read more here

“Late last month, the National Gallery of Art announced the acquisition of its first work by artist Carrie Mae Weems, a photograph of three African American girls lying on the grass with flowers in their hair. One of them gives the camera a slightly suspicious, perhaps even defiant glance, as if to defy a centuries-long history of being objectified by art and photography.

The National Gallery isn’t exactly renowned in the art world for its collection of work by women, or by African-Americans, so it was a pleasant surprise to learn that the MacArthur-genius grant laureate Weems finally had a place in the country’s putative national collection. And yet, the Gallery seemed intent on downplaying the photograph’s provocation”.

Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York through May 14. For more information, visit www.guggenheim.org