Women Who Travel Podcast: Three Photojournalists on Revealing the Human Side of Conflict

02.05.2024 - 15:17 / cntraveler.com

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This week, Lale speaks with women who risk their lives to document conflict and catastrophe around the world—and who are all recipients of a Courage in Photojournalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation. Listen to hear Cairo-based Nariman El-Mofty, who has been traveling through Yemen and Sudan, and Anastasia Taylor-Lind, whose work is focused on Ukraine, share stories of the human side of war, as well as a message from Samar Abu Elouf, a photojournalist from Gaza City.

Lale Arikoglu: Hi, there. I'm Lale Arikoglu, and this is another episode of Women Who Travel.

Anastasia Taylor-Lind: Only 15% of photojournalists are women, and the closer you get to the frontline geographically, the less women you find there.

LA: This week, we hear from women who risk their lives to document conflict and catastrophe around the world.

ATL: It's incredibly dangerous to be a photojournalist.

LA: They are recipients of a Courage in Photojournalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation.

ATL: Fear is not your friend. Once you allow fear to overcome you, you can't think straight. So it's exceptionally dangerous to allow fear to overcome you. It's also a real challenge to allow it not to.

LA: The pictures that they're going to describe, which are often hard to look at and absorb, help us understand the impact of war and natural disasters, and perhaps also encourage some of us to take action.

ATL: The way I work isn't sort of like quick and snappy and at all aggressive actually. It's very slow.

Nariman El-Mofty:I really believe in having to take it all in to tell a story, and that's why I like staying longer and pushing, trying to be as present as I can.

LA: Photographs by honorees, Anastasia Taylor-Lind and Nariman El-Mofty have been published by some of the world's leading media outlets. But first, a statement from the winner, Samar Abu Elouf, who until recently was based in Gaza City. She continued to document what was happening to her community even after her home was destroyed and she was separated from her children. Samar has experienced trauma. She's lost friends and relatives. She's had to evacuate her home country and could not come to the US to accept her reward in person because of visa issues. This is what she wrote, especially for us at Women Who Travel. We hear Samar speaking in Arabic while Charlotte Fox from the International Women's Media Foundation reads the translation.

Samar Abu Elouf: [foreign language 00:02:39].

Charlotte Fox:I am Samar Abu Elouf, a photojournalist from Gaza City. Despite the difficult events, I am very happy to receive this award,