4.08.2009

SHIHO FUKADA: Pulitzer Nomination

Photograph by Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

"Tibetan monks leaving morning prayer on Wednesday at Rongwo Monastery in Qinghai Province, China. The Tibetan New Year has come, but many Tibetans, angry over the events of the past year, are rejecting official efforts to drum up festivities." Shiho Fukada was detained for 20 hours after taking this photograph.

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SHIHO FUKADA, a native of Tokyo, now based in Beijing, China, has a degree in English literature from Tokyo's Sophia University and worked in fashion and advertising before becoming a photojournalist. Fukada's stark photograph of Tibetan monks was recently published on the front page of The New York Times. I thought it was a powerful choice for photo editor Michele McNally to select for the cover of the Times newspaper.

Shiho's work includes portraits of child labor in Bangladesh where poverty pushes an estimated 6 to 7 million children to work, comprising one-fifth of the country's labor force. She also spent months in the Bangladesh brothels photographing both the child prostitutes and women who were sex workers for 50 years .

Her website includes her award winning photographs of the grief stricken families taken after the 2008 earthquake that struck China's Sichuan Province. At least 9,000 children were crushed to death by the falling school buildings. This photographic series received The New York Times Grand Prize, Photo of The Year by Editor & Publisher Magazine in 2008. The China earthquake photographs, like most of her work, began as her own personal project, not an assignment. Her work has also received recognition from the New York Press Photographers Association, The National Press Photographers Association in Photojournalism award, the Best of Photojournalism award for her multimedia work, PDN Annual, Communication Arts and Unicef Photo of The Year.

In the U.S., Shiho has covered the Iowa caucus for New York Magazine, photographed male exotic dancers and the life of migrant farm workers. In between assignments on the road, she recently completed a photo essay about the demise of the biggest labor town in Japan which has become a dumping ground of old men since the Japanese economy, once 2nd largest in the world, is now deteriorating at its worst pace since the 1970's during this financial crisis.

Shiho has been nominated for The Pulitzer Prize by The New York Times.

http://www.shihofukada.com
The New York Times slides: A Day of Mourning in Tibet
The New York Times 5/29/2009

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What an amazing talent. Every image connects the viewer with the subject in a very simple way. Direct and powerful...straight from the heart. Thank you Elizabeth for this wonderful introduction to Shiho's world.

Marwin said...

Truly awe inspiring work by Shiho. 本当に感動しました。